


The Darkness Within

by Charlett (Baknami)



Category: Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IX
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Crystals, FFIII lore, FFIX characters, Gen, Light Vs. Dark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2018-06-03 05:58:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6599455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baknami/pseuds/Charlett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaia, World of Darkness, is dying. The Light is squelching all life on the planet, and the Dark Crystals of Water, Wind, Earth and Fire have chosen the warriors meant to protect the universe. This is the story of the fabled Dark Warriors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Final Fantasy (FF)9 is out on Steam woopwoop everyone raise the roof! I'd like to SAY that FF6 is my favorite, but really, honestly, while FF6 shaped me a lot, FF9 affects me so much more even now.
> 
> FF3, on the other hand, had a super cool idea that I wanted to run with. In it, 1000 years before the Light Warriors had saved the world, everything was being destroyed by the light, and the DARK Warriors had to save everyone. I thought it was a super awesome way to go about it and wanted to flesh it out with something I love so much. After all, there are 8 main characters in FF9, therefore I can make 4 of them Dark Warriors, 4 of them Light Warriors, and then pit them against each other like a demented monster!

Once upon a time, there was a world filled with light, joy and peace. The four light elemental crystals of earth, water, fire and wind protected the people who lived under the sun. The darkness had not hoped to take the World of Light for a thousand years.

The World of Darkness, on the other hand, was slowly sinking into a mire of light. The people of the World of Darkness always knew only dark. The sun gave them no light (in fact, it gave no more light than a star in the World of Light’s nighttime), and the moon gave off the most light they had ever known. For that reason, the people worked their hardest during the night, and slept during the day. When the sun began to shine brighter than usual, the people were, naturally, fearful of this phenomenon. The sun beat down on the planet, and the humans hid inside their homes, fearful of the monsters that appeared. What was worst of all was that the dark elemental crystals of earth, fire, water and wind began to lose their darkness; they began to shine bright as the sun that now rained horrible light upon their world. The World of Darkness, Gaia, was dying.

Alexandria, the largest and greatest province in Gaia, felt the changes more than any other land. Thanks to the power of the Crystal of Water and the magic of eight sages, the horrifying Light Eidolon, Alexander, was put into a magical slumber, of which there was no possibility to awaken. However, because the light began to attack the planet, people were immediately suspicious of the slumbering Eidolon. Queen Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI, the ruler of the Queendom of Alexandria, had to put all of the energy of her army into calming the uprisings and doomsayers with her illustrious dark knights, the Knights of Pluto. General Falgabard, the leader of the knights, had been sent out to protect the province of Treno from the beasts of Light, and thus his second in command, the surprisingly young, but nevertheless ever fanatical, Adelbert Steiner led the castle troops in protecting the royal family. During such a time of crisis, knights of all types were much busier than normal.

That was why some of the more insane and crazy thieves were out in number, one of which was Zidane Tribal of the “Tantalus” troop. Tantalus had mostly just ran a few cons and got money from gullible, hopeful “luck seekers” who wanted lucky gems, but Zidane just never felt that he was *meant* for such small time stuff. Baku found it to be asinine; after all, the kid was picked up as a baby in some ruins during his “adventuring phase”, and despite being saved from exposure when he was barely old enough to say his name, the first thing he wanted was to immediately run out and get himself killed on random adventures. Whatever reason the child decided to wander around dangerous ruins, that reckless spirit never left him, and the only reason he got away with his constant thieving ways was because he was never actually caught. Zidane found that there was only one thing to do in this chaos: steal one of the most precious treasures in the entire world. Not to keep it or anything (or even hold it for ransom, really), but just to show that he *could*.

The young man also didn't mind using his other Tantalus brethren to help him get what he needed to go through with his crazy schemes, and in the back of the Tantalus “jewelry store”, the squinty-eyed thief spoke to one of his friends. “Hey Cinna,” Zidane said as he brushed his tail out (Zidane never minded the fact that he had a tail while the rest of the world didn’t. He found it a perk, being the only one of his kind. Being a mutant was cool, after all!), “If I don’t return tomorrow, notify my next of kin.”

“And that would be…” Cinna looked up from his work and rubbing at his helmet. Said work appeared to be a map of the royal castle. “…who?”

“Oh… you know… Baku… Ruby… anyone I know…” he replied with a smirk. Cinna sighed as he continued his work on the map, and he cried out when his friend yanked the paper up and looked at it, “Hey, this is awesome, Cinna! Thanks!”

“Dammit, Zidane, I haven’t finished it! Don’t hold it like that, it’ll run!” Zidane didn’t seem to be listening to Cinna, and he sighed, placing his head in his hand and leaning against the desk, “You know what? Fine, just take it. When you run into a corridor I haven’t drawn and you get lost and die, I’ll laugh.” Zidane was already out the door. Cinna groaned and snapped the quill pen in his hand, “Why do I even bother…?”

\---

The sun was out. It shone down upon the gardens of Alexandria castle, which caused most of the workers to run in fear indoors, where it was nice and dark. The only one outside was Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, as she was one of the few, strange people who had very little fear of the light. It might have been a reason she had actually began learning the still dangerous, mostly untested white magic, the magic of Light. She wandered the gardens, but she was looking up at the huge Eidolon, Alexander. She lived within him her entire life, as the other people of her family before her, and she watched as the light twinkled off of the ivory pillars and creating deceptively beautiful rainbow clusters. How could something so horrible look so gentle...? The princess felt her heart clench in her chest, more scared of such treacherous thoughts than the light itself.

She barely flinched when she heard the clanking of a familiar retainer behind her. She smiled softly, as Steiner couldn't move anywhere silently. She was so used to it that she instinctively relaxed, standing still as the dark knight stood behind her, staring up at the heavenly wings of the sleeping god. “Alexander’s wings certainly go *well* with the Devil Sun, don't they?” Steiner asked.

“He was sealed away one thousand years ago…” Garnet immediately began to recite from her texts, as if her retainer’s voice brought down an unexpected pop quiz, “He bore down on the poor humans and brutally annihilated them. If it weren't for the eight sages and the Crystal of Water...”

“Princess... Doctor Tot is not here,” Steiner said, honestly not caring much for history. As long as it didn't interfere with his protection of the royal family, there wasn't any need to worry about it.

She turned to Steiner with a smile, “Well, it is important that I remember all of this. There may be a time I will be called on to protect Alexandria from other Eidolons of Light. If so, then I should know Alexander's weaknesses. I might have to fight back with my own Eidolons.” She dropped her head and turned away, “...If there's a summoner... who attacks us like that... to kill so many people... do summoners really have that sort of power...?”

Steiner looked down at the softly trembling princess, who looked up at the captain with a question she wasn't sure he was able to answer, “Summoners have tremendous power, princess, but they are born to protect the world. I’m sure that when the power awakens within you, you will use it to save, not destroy.”

Garnet looked away, a sad expression apparent on her face, “I just hope that I will not have to summon anything in my lifetime.”

“That is a fine wish, princess…” the captain said. The two stood in silence, looking up at the sealed monster, when they suddenly heard the pattering of armored footsteps, and Garnet looked up at one of the Pluto Knights, Mullenkedheim. He saluted his captain and explained his intrusion:

“Captain, it's bad! The Crystal of Water just suddenly went haywire!” Pluto Knight IX said quickly, “Please head to the crystal chamber immediately!”

Steiner growled, his normally wide eyes turning into slits. The Alexandrians had learned over many generations the Water Crystal's intricacies, and it could always sense when something important was happening, whether it was announcing the birth of the new summoner or pleading for assistance in maintaining Alexander's seal. “Very well, I want you to escort the princess to her room immediately.” The captain turned to Garnet, “Princess, do you mind?”

She nodded, smiling, “That is fine. Take care, Steiner.” The knight saluted his ruler and rushed off, clanking all the way.

Garnet waved as he walked off, and placed her finger on her cheek, as if in deep thought, “…Y…Your majesty…” Mullenkedheim murmured, “S…shall we be off?”

The princess looked at the Pluto Knight, and smiled, “Oh, of course, but first…” She smiled at the man as he led her off, “I feel a little hungry. Could we have something to eat before that?” Mullenkedheim liked the way she thought.

“Th… that sounds great, your majesty!” he said, following her off. Garnet smiled deviously.

\---

Alexandria Castle was in no way anything less than lovely. It was filled with walls of alabaster and sapphire, just perfect for the structure known as the Castle of Water. Even though the ruling queen was as ugly as all get-out, it didn’t detract from the stunning land of Alexandria, land of tranquility and beauty. However, all that tranquility was being sundered by the light that destroyed the soft darkness of the grey alabaster and ocean blue of the sapphire. Zidane didn't seem to find it too bad, however. He had such small, squinted eyes that he never had trouble looking around during the daytime. Being a mutant really was the best.

He suddenly heard the rough clanking of armor, and the young thief ducked into a small, darkened room. Weimer and Haagen ran past the room, shouting things like, “This is making me late for my date!” and “My fury can barely be contained!” The thief breathed a sigh of relief as they ran out of earshot, and he stuck his head out, looking to see if anyone was coming. He snuck out and walked casually down the hallway, towards the crystal room on the map. His tail twitched when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway behind him (it was easy to hear footsteps; all of the knights clanked as they walked), and he turned just in time to be spotted by what seemed to be the captain of the knights. Zidane gave a strangled cry and the knight pointed across the way at the thief, “Stop! Thief!”

“Are you serious!?” Zidane cried, shooting off, his cloth shoes beating against the floor as the captain continued in pursuit of the thief. Zidane slid around a corner, abandoning the map’s directions as he tromped quickly (but quietly) down the stairs towards the basement. That was where the Crystal of Water was supposed to be. Yet what was the point of arriving at the crystal and getting caught carrying it out? Nothing seemed to be turning out correctly this night! It was almost as if some higher entity was out to get him…!

Steiner continued running after the betailed thief he had found, huffing and puffing. The thief was so intent on getting to the basement… that was not only where Alexander's seal was focused, but where the Crystal of Water resided. The captain grit his teeth as the thief ran directly towards the Crystal Room. It was almost as if Fate wanted him to get to that room…! But for what purpose…?

\---

“Can you imagine why the Water Crystal would be calling for anyone?” Garnet asked pleasantly as Mullenkedheim tore voraciously into the cook’s leftovers.

“I’m not sure…” the Pluto Knight said, his tongue loosened further as he continued to eat the various foodstuffs before him, “But I heard something about thieves maybe wanting to try their hands at vandalizing it. It’s a national treasure, after all.”

The princess blinked at the Pluto Knight as he ate the food, and she pressed him for more information, “Are you sure?” she asked, “The crystal… how could anyone get to it with such great guards on duty?”

“I’m not…” the princess stepped back slowly when Mullenkedheim leaned forward and placed his head lightly on the wooden table covered in a linen sheet, “entirely… sure…” Garnet waited for him to continue, but ended up smiling when she heard him snore. So much for the “illustrious” Pluto Knights. She patted the man on his helmet, pocketed her sleeping grass, and snuck out of the dining room.

Garnet found the daylight practically blinding. Usually, humans would end up bedding down at this time, but with all the light, it made everyone too afraid to sleep. Light usually meant monsters were about, and not a day went by when she didn’t dream of Alexander, the epitome of light to her, heartlessly attacking her people. Even though she was tired, she didn’t want to go to her room and sleep. She really wanted to see what the Water Crystal was calling people for. She let Mullenkedheim sleep in the dining room with his hand wrapped around a drumstick, and she snuck off to check the Crystal Room. Was it really true that a thief was after the Crystal of Water…? A smile spread across her lips as she hoisted up the hem of her dress and jogged faster. She HAD to see how he was going to be able to vandalize the crystal…!

She rounded a corner and daintily walked down the stairs, “Wait for me, Steiner,” she said, a smile on her face, “I want to see you right when you catch that thief.”

\---

Zidane continued to run, and gave himself one moment to steal a glance behind himself. The damned captain was STILL on his tail (figuratively, as Zidane’s tail probably couldn’t support the knight’s weight)! He charged blindly forward, and suddenly skidded to a halt. Looking up, he saw two huge doors, carved from pure sapphire. He glanced back one more time, and he shoved himself full-force against the door. It opened with a creak, and he slid through, grasping his tail to make sure the door didn’t close on it. An air of serenity fell upon the thief, and all thoughts of running around disappeared as he looked up in mute rapture of the Crystal of Water. He was amazed that the rumors were true. The crystal had lost its darkness and was shining brightly. Now there was only one problem… 

How was he supposed to drag a crystal THAT huge out of the castle, anyway…?

He suddenly remembered his predicament when he heard the knight slam into the doors and shove them open with an angry roar. Looking around, Zidane groaned when he noticed that the place was totally devoid of anything to hide within. The Crystal Room was so huge and empty it was as if it was meant to be a battleground. The thief turned back to the knight, who smiled as he pulled his sword from his sheath, “Now, thief. We can do this the easy way or the hard way…”

Zidane blinked at the doorway behind the captain, and gasped when he saw a shadow flit into the room, “H… Hey!” the thief shouted, pointing at the door with a gaping mouth, “S…something just came in!”

“I’ll not fall for such a cheap trick!” the captain roared, rushing the thief. Zidane easily ducked under the attack and stared at the doorway again.

“I’m serious, Rusty!” the thief said, looking at the knight, “It could be a monst…”

“R…Rusty!?” Zidane slid away from another attack not a moment too soon, “I am Adelbert Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto of Alexandria! How DARE you call me…” Steiner was interrupted when the doorway Zidane was pointing to slammed shut and tight. The thief scrambled to it, but no matter how the monkey-man tried, he couldn’t get it open.

“We’re stuck in here!” Zidane shouted across the room. Steiner lowered his sword and he stared at the thief, “What’s going on?”

The knight turned away from Zidane, and looked at the crystal, shielding his eyes from the unnatural light, “That was why it was calling... It’s initiating a test…” The thief didn’t like the sound of that at all. “It’s the Crystal’s test of worthiness. It prepares a trial to judge one worthy of becoming a Dark Warrior.”

Zidane's squinty eyes squinted further, completely confused. “D… Dark Warrior?”

“Are you an idiot?” Steiner said to the thief with a growl, “Have you noticed all the light in our world? It’s not natural, you know it isn’t. Gaia cannot live with all of this light, and unless the Crystals can find those worthy of becoming the Warriors of Darkness…”

Zidane understood now. So it was like all the fairy tales told by the bards about the Dark Warriors saving the world from the Light, “They say that only those who are worthy can pass this test…” Steiner murmured.

The thief shrugged, “So are you saying we should curl up and let the Crystal kill us…?” Zidane blinked as he spoke. The knight seemed more intent on staring at the crystal’s light. The thief had hardly noticed it, but it was shining even brighter than when he entered. HE didn’t seem to notice; his eyes were so good at seeing in the light, but he did realize that it was actually easier to see, as opposed to his difficulty at Gaia's night. Steiner actually had to shield his eyes from the brightness, and the thief slid up next to the knight as the Crystal of Water’s test was instigated.

A huge Land Turtle (read: Tortoise) had been summoned by the crystal, and the thief frowned at the creature, “So THAT’S the monster?”

“Hmm, Land Turtles are indeed ferocious creatures of the desert. Fiercely territorial as well…” Steiner said as the turtle tried to find its bearings after being dragged through whatever portal of space-time the Crystal of Water controlled, “However, I will not give up! I will do whatever I can to pass the test and live on for the princess!”

“The princess’ retainer, huh?” Zidane said with a smirk, “I didn’t know you were so prestigious, Rusty… By the way, the name’s Zidane: Zidane Tribal.”

Steiner allowed the young man one glance, “Why did you assume I care about the name of a soon-to-be-beheaded thief?”

“Because it’s always nice to know the name of the guy who’s going to die at your side, you know?” Zidane said with a shrug. Steiner decided to let that one slide as he prepared to battle the Land Turtle, his broadsword held in both hands. The beast appeared to recover from its travel through space and time, and it noticed the two before it. With a roar, it charged the men.

“Alright, Rusty, here’s the plan,” Zidane said haughtily as he nimbly dodged the initial charge, and practically skipped over to Steiner, who had almost gotten hit. The knight stood and glared at the thief. Zidane was about to speak, but the knight interrupted him.

“No, this is MY plan,” he said, grabbing the thief’s collar, “You deal some damage while I finish him off!” Zidane blinked, and the captain threw the betailed man at the beast, “Take care, filth!”

“You know,” Zidane shouted as he landed on the Land Turtle’s huge head, grasping said head as if it were the last thing on Gaia (seeing as how if he fell, he’d be crushed underfoot by the creature), “If this is payback for the ‘Rusty’ thing, you really need to curb that temper of yours!” The Land Turtle gave a scream and the monkey-man scrambled up the smooth head and slid down into the neck onto the shell. Steiner gaped at the beast as it charged again. Zidane simply sat on the creature and gave a hoot as it pursued the knight. Said knight was barely able to roll out of the way, and the thief hopped off the creature to land at his feet with a laugh. “Oh mannn, that was super cool! You gotta try that!”

“Can't you ever be serious, for once, you monkey!?” Steiner hissed, fighting to stand up. Ahhh, fatigue really *was* rearing its ugly head.

Zidane smiled up at the knight with his hands on his hips and his tail swishing happily, “We won’t be able to get out of this by fighting each other. We should work together for a little bit, at least until this test is over.” He held out his hand, “Alright?”

Steiner screwed up his face and, after much debate in his mind, finally reached up and took the thief’s hand, “But this doesn’t mean that I won’t turn you in after all of this is finished!”

“Sure, sure,” Zidane said, waving off the knight’s threats, “Now watch this!” the thief pulled out a bottle. Steiner looked at the young thief, and he smiled, “I got this from my friend Blank. He’s a potion maker, and a right great one at that.”

“A potion maker?” Steiner inspected the bottle as the Land Turtle turned around, “Just what kind of potion is it that’ll actually HELP us?”

“Just watch!” The thief chucked the bottle as hard as he could, and it burst around the beast. The Land Turtle gave a scream as wind erupted from the bottle, surrounding the creature with cold, biting air, “Blank once trapped the Antarctic Wind in that bottle himself! It’s a great way to do damage to an enemy without having to do any work!” He smiled at Steiner, “And what can YOU contribute to this battle, Rusty?”

Zidane snickered as he ducked out of Steiner’s reach, and the captain growled, but lifted his sword, “I’ll show you…” he said, taking a stance as he prepared his attack. The Land Turtle shook off the rest of the Antarctic Wind, and prepared to attack again. The knight struck first. He rushed the turtle, darkness surrounding his broadsword. Zidane whistled approvingly as Steiner brought the sword down on the Land Turtle, his dark sword effectively imbedding itself within the beast’s cranium. The knight struggled with the flailing animal, and Zidane watched in interest as the creature gave one last groan, and slumped downward, its legs splaying on all sides. Only then did the captain pull his sword out; not a bit of darkness remained on the sword.

Zidane stared at the scene, and Steiner dropped onto his back leg, slouching a bit from the intense attack he released. Dark knights sacrificed their own life energy to destroy their enemies, and after all of that exertion, any normal man would have passed out at that point.. and then he twitched in annoyance when he heard the thief give a hoot of joy as the beast disappeared, no longer useful to the Crystal of Water, “Wow! You actually went toe to toe with that thing! I guess I underestimated you, Rusty.” He expected the captain to hit him, but Steiner seemed intent on staring at the Crystal of Water as it shone brightly.

Zidane leapt back, fully alert, when he heard something in his mind, “Well done, my friends. You have passed the test.”

“What the hell was that?” the young man shouted, looking around for the culprit. Steiner glared at Zidane and pointed up. Zidane blinked at the Crystal, and then back at the knight, “So the Crystal’s talking to us then? How is that even possible?”

“Two Warriors of the Darkness stand within this room now,” the Crystal spoke, completely ignoring the thief. Zidane really didn’t like the way it was conversing with the two. Sure, it didn’t have a mouth, but his brain was hurting just trying to wrap around the fact that the words were IN said brain! “One is the leader who shall bring Gaia into an era of greatness…” the Crystal continued, “And the other is to protect the leader through the entire journey.”

The thief blinked, and rubbed his head, “Wait a second…”

“This… can’t be true…!” Steiner said, flailing slightly at the thought, “I… I am no Dark Warrior! I can’t leave! Alexandria needs me!”

“You must protect the leader of the Dark Warriors. Without your leader, Gaia, nay, the universe itself will cease to exist.”

Zidane stared at the crystal, and turned the words over in his mind as Steiner began to pale. It then hit the thief as well, “Wait a minute… if Rusty’s the one who’s supposed to protect the leader… then that means I’m…” A frown appeared on his face, “Look, Crystal. I know that if I don’t save the world, it’ll be bad for Gaia and all… but how do you suppose we go about doing it?”

“The Dark Warriors’ first job is to seek out the other Crystals of Wind, Earth and Fire. They must collect what darkness is left within us, and destroy the encroaching Light to protect and save Gaia,” Was the reply. Zidane bit his lip with a smile.

“Heh, the Boss isn’t going to like this…” he muttered, “But who am I to refuse an omniscient crystal? Hey Rusty, you in?”

“Absolutely not!” The captain growled, pointing accusingly at Zidane, “The last thing I will *ever* do is refuse my lady’s protection to defend YOU, a filthy, squinty-eyed monkey-tailed *thief*.” Zidane rolled his eyes at the mudslinging.

“Hey, Crystal!” Zidane shouted up at the crystal, “What do you have to say about this? The guy doesn’t seem to want to help me save the world!” The young man waited for the Crystal’s reply, but nothing came. Zidane raised an eyebrow, “C…Crystal…?”

The thief nearly jumped when he heard banging on the doorway, followed by voices that made Steiner turn around expectantly, “Captain Steiner!” One voice shouted.

“Worried, the Queen was!”  
“The princess is waiting for your return!”

“This door, open it immediately!”

Zidane’s tail flicked nonchalantly, suddenly really smug and relaxed as Steiner moved to do just as he was ordered, “Hey, who are they?” the young thief asked as the captain opened the door. Two men dressed as jesters leapt through the portal.

“I am Zorn!”  
“Thorn, I am!”

“They are the her majesty, the Queen’s, personal… gofers, you might say,” Steiner replied, “Zorn, Thorn, this is the thief who was intent on stealing the Crystal of Water.”

“Amazing!”

“Such skills from you, I totally expected, Captain!”  
“I totally expected such skills from you, Captain!”

“Let us arrest him!”  
“Arrest him, we shall!”

The two jesters stepped forward, but were stopped by Steiner, who grasped at their collars as easy as you please, “Unfortunately...” Zidane's smug smirk widened further as he noticed Steiner *grind* his teeth, “we can’t do that, Zorn, Thorn.”

The men gave a gasp, and flailed angrily, “Why ever for, Captain?”

“This instant, you must release us!”  
“You must release us this instant!”

“Your reasonings, tell us now!” Thorn finished their ranting and Steiner explained, pointing angrily at the thief.

“The Crystal of Water has chosen him to be a Warrior of the Darkness. He is much too important to throw into the dungeon. Zorn, Thorn,” The two men saluted the captain, “I request an audience with her majesty the Queen for this… Warrior…” He said, wincing visibly at the thought of having to say such a thing about Zidane. The new Dark Warrior really could get used to this treatment, and his tail flicked like a cat who just caught a mouse.

“At once, Captain Steiner!”  
“At once, Captain Steiner!” And with that, Zorn and Thorn disappeared from the room. The thief began to follow them out, a smile appearing on his lips, his tail flicking back and forth. Steiner gave a sigh, and followed the three out with a groan. When the room was devoid of anything but the crystal, a tiny shadow, hidden behind the Altar of the Water Crystal, wiped sweat from their brow. That truly was a close one!

\---

Queen Brahne, the overly-large queen of Alexandria, sat upon her throne (that would normally fit two people at least) and stared intently at the savior of the planet. Zidane gave a halfhearted shrug and a cockeyed smile, “Captain Steiner!” the queen called out from behind her fan.

“Yes, my queen?” Steiner spoke up, snapping to attention and saluting Brahne, his face visibly sweating.

“The Crystal spoke and said you are to watch this thief as he saves the world?” The queen asked.

Steiner's shoulders slumped in defeat. “It… appears so… your majesty…”

Brahne nodded, waving her fan before her, “Then it’s settled. Captain Steiner, until Gaia is restored to its original glory, you are hereby discharged from the Alexandrian Knights of Pluto.”

That sentence hit Steiner like a ton of bricks, and the captain winced as if he was visibly struck with a ram to the gut. Zidane turned to the captain and waved his hand in front of the knight’s face. There was no response, “Uh… your majesty, I don’t mean to be rude, but isn’t that a little harsh? I mean, this guy is…”

“I will not retract my statement. He must accompany you, and if I know the captain, he is against the idea. Therefore, I will not allow him back into the service until both you and he return.”

Zidane shrugged. He figured a queen would know her subordinates better than him. Besides, she hit the nail on the head. The Dark Warriors’ leader scratched the back of his head, “So I suppose this is goodbye then?”

“Indeed. I shall offer you what little money from the treasury that we can afford…” The queen glared at the thief as his eyes lit up, “provided you use them in a way to assist your travels.”

“Say no more, your majesty!” Zidane knelt before the queen and bowed to the ground, “I shall save Gaia and return forthwith!” He then stood up, making a face, mostly because “forthwith” was a stupid word and he decided to stop trying to sound formal around the queen, and honestly he had another question that needed to be asked, “But I’m not exactly sure where the nearest Crystal is… perhaps you know?”

“Such idiocy!”  
“Not to know something like that, it’s moronic!” Zorn and Thorn said in unison. Queen Brahne silenced them, and answered the monkey-man.

“South of here, hidden within the Dying Forest is a shrine of magnificent engineering. Hidden well within it is the Wind Crystal. However… it’s practically impossible to find without a guide.” She seemed to blink and look up behind the Dark Warriors for a moment. Zidane waited for the queen to continue, but she said nothing, motioning instead to someone behind him. "Please, come in, my dear!"

“Your majesty?” Zidane asked before turning around to face the newcomer.

“The black mages live within the Dying Forest…” a new voice was heard, and Zidane stared, stock still, at the intruder (although, with Queen Brahne’s approval, she wasn’t really an intruder…). Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII slid into the throne room. Her lovely white dress made her seem to gracefully float along the floor, and Zidane had no trouble just watching her as she moved. Steiner snapped from his stupor just in time to watch her curtsy lightly to the Dark Warriors and walk by them to her mother’s side, “Mother, forgive my imposition,” she said as she dropped to the floor by Brahne’s throne.

“Garnet, shouldn’t you be in bed?” Brahne asked, “You…”

“Mother, I couldn’t sleep with the light. It… scares me,” Garnet replied, dropping to the floor and bowing her head lightly, “I apologize.”

Brahne understood. “Do not apologize, my daughter. I am sure the Dark Warriors would be glad to thank you for your wisdom.” The two royals looked up and Garnet blinked at Zidane. He was staring rather profusely at the princess' ra-eyessssss...?

“You are Zidane?” Garnet asked, making Zidane snap up and *definitely* look at her cherubim face, “Shall I explain to you who the black mages are?” Zidane shook his head out, slapped his face, and chuckled lightly.

“Y…Yeah, tell me more about the black mages…” He looked the young woman up and down, “Y… your majesty…”

“The black mages were once humans that abandoned their lives to practice black magic. They hid themselves away from the world in the Dying Forest. Eventually, they evolved into a totally different species, a spiritual humanoid creature whose very life is entwined with their magic…” Garnet went on to explain, “The University of Dali, close to the forest, works hard to study the black mages and see how much they truly differ from humans. It appears the black mages know the forest much better than anyone else, and can probably lead you to the Wind Shrine.”

Garnet stopped and looked at Zidane, waiting for some sort of sign that he was even listening. He seemed to have shut his brain off, and the princess cleared her throat, “Did you get all that?”

“Huh?” Zidane blinked, “Right, yeah, I got most of it, I’ll just ask Rusty later for the rest of the stuff…” He pointed at the captain with a smile, and Steiner sighed lightly.

“Your majesty, if I may speak boldly…” Steiner spoke up. Brahne allowed the captain to continue, and he knelt before Princess Garnet, “My lady… I truly apologize for having to leave. Please take care of yourself while I’m gone.”

“Steiner, you know I won’t do anything too brash,” she replied, her smile widening just a little upon saying so. She curtsied to him (A curtsy, for someone so lowly as he?) and clasped her hands together, “I shall pray for your swift and safe return, both of you.”

“Prayers from a princess as well as free loot? I suppose being a Dark Warrior’s got better perks than I thought,” Zidane said with a cluck of his tongue. Steiner stared him down, and he shrugged, “I mean, it’s totally not ‘free loot’.”

“Right, then, the two of you are dismissed,” Brahne said with a curt nod of her head. Zidane nodded lightly and winked at Steiner.

“So then Rusty, let’s go get the money, buy something cool for me to stab enemies with, and we’ll head out to save the universe!” Zidane proclaimed, practically skipping from the throne room, “Come on, let’s go!”

“Rusty!?” Steiner shouted, chasing after the man, “I’ll have your head for that, Chosen Boy or no!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure at the end I'll mention some stuff that I pulled from FF3, so everyone knows that I actually DID pull from it.
> 
> The Land Turtle was the monster that was guarding the Crystal of Wind, the first crystal that the Light Warriors gained their first blessing from. I think Record Keeper calls it the "Great Tortoise", which is where the second joke came from.
> 
> Next, Falgabard came from the town in FF3 that was just filled with dark knights and sold dark knight gear and had dark knight monsters and whatnot. The funny thing was that in FF3, dark knights all used katana for some reason? It just makes me chuckle to think of Steiner with a katana. It doesn't fit at all, honestly.


	2. The Dying Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zidane and Steiner are sent off on their first day as Dark Warriors, and the first thing they do is pick up a tag-along white mage. Together, the three make their way to the Dying Forest to meet with the black mages.

“What? Yer leavin’?” Ruby asked the betailed thief as he told his family what had happened in the palace. Zidane couldn't do anything but shrug in response to Ruby's misty eyes and practical pout.

“Sounds like it. The Crystal seemed adamant about it,” Zidane replied, scratching his butt and making even Cinna snort in digust.

“Well, that explains the reason why you brought an armed guard into our home,” Blank muttered as he worked on another random potion, probably some more Antarctic Wind or something equally useless in reality, “I didn't think you'd ever associate with one, honestly.”

Steiner snorted and looked around the area, as if just *trying* to find something he could call out as “illegal” and rain down dark knight justice on all of them. “I am... not actually part of the royal guard anymore, however...” he muttered, his face taking on more of a pained look than an angry one, for once.

“Aww, Rusty, I'm sure the princess misses you too,” Zidane cawed happily before jumping out of Steiner's choking hands. “But you know guys,” he said as he turned back to his friends, “I’ll be back before you guys know it. After all, how hard can saving the known universe *be*, anyway?” He shrugged before anyone could answer that tidbit, and he turned to leave the only home he ever knew, walking a little faster than he normally would, just so that no one could see his own misting eyes.. Steiner gave what was left of Tantalus one last look, as if *daring* them to continue Zidane's jokes, before clanking after the thief.

“By the way, since you’re so sure this will be an easy quest, you could have honestly kept a *little* of the money her majesty so graciously gave you, scum,” Steiner grumbled as Zidane whistled nonchalantly down the street. Normally he'd treat someone like a Dark Warrior with a lot more respect, but Steiner couldn't actually believe that this money grubbing thief could actually be one, despite how Zidane's countenance said he could care either way if he was a hero or not.

The light was already dimming as night began to fall on the two. It seemed strangely paradoxical to the both of them, as this was the time that things were supposed to get lighter, but all it did was tick one of those “Inside creepometers” out, and Zidane hardly paid it any mind as he twirled his new daggers expertly in his hands. There was only one problem in this glorious night. Steiner wasn’t finished whining at everything Zidane did. “Have you ever heard of the phrase ‘don’t spend it all in one place’?”

“With the way my money goes in and out of my pockets, it’s just habitual to get rid of everything I have as soon as I get it,” Zidane replied as if it were absolutely natural, and Steiner growled in reply.

“It's more like you need to get rid of all of your stolen goods as quickly as possible!”

“Also true,” he replied nonchalantly, sheathing his daggers and slipping his hands into his pockets, “But think about it, we won’t need to replace these mithril daggers anytime soon.”

Steiner sighed; he supposed that Zidane was right about that, at least, “I just wish you had the foresight to buy a tent. We aren’t going to be able to sleep in an inn every day, you know.”

Zidane’s tail swished back and forth, but he didn't say anything to that at all.

\---

The Alexandrian gates were made with mortar crushed with obsidian to create a beautiful dark blackness that absorbed all light. It made those who patrolled the tops feel like cooked eggs during the daytime, but at night, it was warm and nice, and the guards were pleasant while dealing with the Dark Warriors. “Take care of yourself!” they called to their captain, and soon, the two were out on the road, their adventure truly beginning at that moment.

The two immediately followed the road and headed on the way to the Dead Forest. Zidane turned to Steiner, who was encumbered by most of their traveling supplies; the thief was really happy that he had a pack mule to take care of this stuff, although with how slow Steiner was moving, it was obvious why they weren't going to sleep in an inn everyday. At this point, they weren't going to be able to *move*. “There's at least *one* tent in there somewhere though, right? I mean, we're both men, so it's not like...”

“If you think for *one moment* that I will allow you to set *one foot* into *my* tent...” Steiner began, and Zidane's tail went into overdrive, his smile widening at how easy it was to set this guy off. “I will make sure that you never...” He stopped speaking for a moment, as he saw something further down the road.

“So wait, is that a 'yes', because...” Zidane stopped too, suddenly realizing that Steiner's eyes hadn't even twitched when Zidane suggested sleeping in the same location. His eyes turned to spy what it was that “Rusty” had found, and when he found a feminine figure sitting against a tree and humming quietly to herself, his tail stuck straight up.

It was a *girl*, on the *road*. Oh man, traveling women were hot. She seemed to be dressed in the traditional robes of a white mage, and she was resting for a moment on the road before continuing on, as she was turned towards the road onward with sandwich in her hand. “Hey lady! What are you doing here?” Zidane asked as the two men jogged up to her.

“It’s very dangerous on the road with the monsters of light about. Thankfully, it’s getting to be dark soon, so they won’t be out in full, but you should be careful, ma’am.” Steiner said, clanking up next to Zidane.

The woman didn’t look up from her sandwich. She didn’t say a word, either, which made Zidane get suspicious, “Hey lady, who are you, anyway? Not many white mages around nowadays. They don’t travel all too often, either. What’s your name?”

Zidane jumped when Steiner let out a sudden, screeching wail that sounded like a cat being skinned alive. “P…princess!” Zidane checked to see if his ears were bleeding before turning to Steiner, who had immediately figured out who this woman was. “It can’t be! Why are you out here all on your own!?”

Princess Garnet looked up with an apologetic smile before wrapping the sandwich back up in her traveling kerchief, “Heh, looks like my secret’s out, huh? I knew I couldn’t fool you, Steiner.”

“Princess, you *know* you shouldn’t be out here all on your own! What on Gaia *possessed* you to follow us all the way out here?”

Garnet pulled back her hood and Zidane scratched the back of his head. “Wait a minute, how did you get all the way out here anyway, princess? I mean, it’s not like the guards would let you out willy nilly.”

Steiner began to lose all the color in his face as Garnet turned to Zidane and shrugged. “I just jumped the walls.”

Zidane was quite certain Steiner's previous wail had rendered him deaf, because there was no way she could have said what he heard so nonchalantly. “You… you what?”

“I climbed the largest tree near the wall and hopped over it.” Garnet said matter-of-factly as she fluffed her hair out. “It wasn’t so hard.”

Zidane stared at the princess as Steiner sobbed a little ways away (“I *told* General Falgabard we should have cut it down! I *told him*!”). The Dark Warrior continued unabated. “So wait, you hopped the ten foot wall and didn’t break anything? You’re quite athletic, Princess!” He looked away in thought; by the Crystals, a traveling, athletic woman? That was such a turn on!

“T-this isn’t the first time the princess has run away from home…” Steiner groaned as Garnet stood up and wiped her robe of dirt. “But your majesty, why would you ever want to leave now, of all times? This is one of the most dangerous times ever! You do realize that…”

“…that the world is in need of help and that, as a summoner, I have the power to help save the world?” Garnet explained, her hands on her hips. Zidane tried *really* hard not to look down at the way she stuck out one of her hips so he could see her curves, but thankfully, Steiner and Garnet were too busy staring and smiling (respectively) at each other to notice that the thief was ogling. “Please, Steiner, let me come. I can heal wounds and I think I can even try to summon Shiva! I know that the next shrine is of the Wind Crystal, but I’m sure Shiva will assist us even then.”

“For our sake, I sure hope she’ll be useful,” Zidane muttered offhandedly, scratching at his cheek.

“Do you honestly understand the powers of a summoner and her summons? She has the power to rend you and countless others asunder just by looking at you funny.” Steiner growled. Zidane looked away as he continued, “do not think for a second that her majesty cannot hold her own out here.” It was then that the knight turned to Garnet and bowed. “Your majesty, it would be our honor to escort you further on.”

Garnet looked extremely happy at the news, “Oh, Steiner! That sounds wonderful! Thank you for letting me come with you to…”

“Dali.” Garnet stopped when she heard Steiner interrupt her! “We shall take you as far as Dali, and then you shall return home as soon as possible.”

“But!”

“No buts! There are some orders even YOU cannot impose on me, your majesty,” Steiner said, raising a finger at the woman. She opened her mouth to speak, and thought against it, looking away with a huff.

“I just wanted to help,” she said lightly, taking the lead before the knight. Zidane slunk in front of Steiner and walked next to her with a shrug.

“Hey, you know, I’m glad you came along, princess,” Zidane said with a smile. Garnet looked at the thief’s overtly wide smile, and she gave him a look that told him she knew just why he was glad she was coming along, “And hey, you never know. We could always change Rusty’s mind by the time we reach Dali. After all, we have to pass through the Wind Shrine before arriving there, right?”

“I suppose you are right, Dark Warrior,” Garnet replied after a little thought on the subject.

“Oh, so stuffy! Just call me Zidane, alright? Can I call you ‘Garnet’?”

Apparently Steiner had heard the two's conversation, because suddenly he was shouting at Zidane from behind the two of them.“You will address her as ‘PRINCESS Garnet’ if you want to keep your head, monkey man!” Garnet gave Zidane an apologetic smile as the “monkey man' shrugged in resignation.

“Understood, Zidane. You may call me Garnet, but I suggest you listen to Steiner as well.” She placed a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, “He has… quite a temper.”

“I noticed…” Zidane said, trying not to roll his eyes. Silence passed for a while as the three wandered in the dark night (which made the princess and knight at ease, at least), and the thief suddenly spoke up, “So, how long until we get there?”

Steiner sighed and Garnet tried to smile in his direction…

\---

Traveling across the world wasn’t so bad, if not for the fact that Garnet got special treatment. As a summoner, she was able to call upon the help of the mythical chocobo, a large, ridable yellow bird. Zidane felt a little put upon that the men had to walk and she could ride the bird, but he supposed it was okay for the woman to ride the chocobo, he just was getting a little jealous…

“Hey Princess,” he addressed her, looking up at her as he loped alongside the bird, “My legs are tired, you think you might…”

The chocobo suddenly scoffed, making Zidane blink at him in confusion, “Yeah right, the last thing I’m going to do is let two people ride me, bucko,” the bird said lackadaisically.

Zidane leapt back in surprise, even amid Steiner's chortling laugh. “It can talk?” he cried incredulously.

“Of course I can talk!” The chocobo grunted. Garnet made a small noise that asked that the two don’t fight. “What, you think that just because I’m a bird I’m dumb? Think I’m a bird brain!?”

Ugh, really? They were going with bird jokes? Zidane bet if *he* made the joke then suddenly *he'd* be bird racist or whatever. Ugh. “Look, I’m sorry; I just didn’t think chocobos could talk. I don’t remember anything like that in the stories.” Zidane muttered, looking upwards in thought.

“Choco, please be nice…” Garnet chastised her mount as she pet his feathers. The bird crooned in response as the princess turned to address Zidane. “Choco can speak because he’s an Eidolon. They're all guardians, deities, and protectors, and while chocobos have been extinct for many years, Choco is the guardian Eidolon that encompasses the ideals we associate with chocobos. Any Eidolon has the ability to speak the Common Tongue, so of course he can speak to us.”

Choco was still indignant that someone would be so rude to him about his intelligence. “Honestly, the things I have to go through…” Choco huffed under his breath.

“Hey, I said I was sorry!” Zidane proclaimed, feeling quite attacked, “I really didn't know, so I mean-”

“Finally!” Steiner interrupted, making Zidane jump. The four had arrived at a rather large landmark that made quite an ugly scar on the landscape. Zidane had traveled much of the Alexandrian providences thanks to Tantalus's work, but if there weren't humans one could get a quick buck off of, there wasn't much a reason to explore much further than that. As a result, most of what he saw were Alexandria's beautiful, clear waters and, as a result of the good water, its lush landscape. But this forest…

“So, this is the Dying Forest?” Zidane asked. It was obvious; nothing in it looked even relatively alive. It looked like it was in perpetual autumn, what with dead leaves and creaking wood. It looked positively dreary.

“The black mages dwell in this land,” Garnet replied as she scanned over the area from the hill they were perched on, “if I recall my studies, Dalian scientists theorize that the black mages are sucking the very life from the forest. Their magic takes life out of everything around it when they cast. You could say that the magic itself is a planet leech. It's not so bad in small amounts, but if all of the black mages live in the same area, well... this tends to happen...”

Zidane whistled at the thought, admiring the new view and scratching at his rear with a thoughtful look. “Man, let’s hope one of them joins the group, you know? He can probably stop this light siege with his black magic!”

“Black magic doesn't just drain life from enemies, primate, it takes it from *everything*, and we are here to preserve, not destroy!” Steiner rebuked, wagging a finger at a completely unrepentant Dark Warrior, “You would do well to remember that!”

Zidane was about to reply, but realized that Garnet had already ushered Choco on forward towards the Dying Forest, and the leader of the Dark Warriors rushed after her with a cry, “Hey! Garnet, wait up!”

“That’s ‘Princess’ to you!!” Steiner roared, charging after the betailed young man.

\---

The Black Mage Village was rather small, despite how large the forest itself was. It seemed like even though the black mages lived together, there were very few of them around. Perhaps they sucked more life from the planet than Zidane originally assumed. The black mages themselves seemed kind when they invited the group into the village, but there were just such a small amount of them around... Zidane wondered why that was, but then he noticed that there weren't that many children among the people. Did black mages even reproduce the way normal humans did?

Zidane suddenly felt intense pity for the people.

Despite their kindness to the strangers, the black mages had trouble interacting well with the visitors to their village. Part of it might have been because they were so reclusive they even hid their skin. They all wore long robes and gloves that hid every part of them, and their pointed hats, apparently given to each black mage the moment they were inducted into the fold, were wide brimmed and hid their faces such that all anyone could see was an inky blackness, with bright, piercing yellow eyes peering out from underneath. Whether or not that was their actual face or not remained to be seen, and Garnet hushed Zidane for being rude when he tried to ask about it. He grumbled as she continued on, and he snuck up next to her and whispered, "So then, what's next on the agenda?"

“Aren’t you supposed to be the leader?” Steiner asked with a glare at the monkey man.

“Oh Steiner, it’s hard being a leader,” Garnet admonished her guardian. She then turned to Zidane and smiled at him. “I should know, after all.”

Zidane didn’t doubt that in the slightest, although he wondered what princesses did to help the kingdom. He bet they just hung out on a throne and let cute princes kiss their hand. Man, best job ever; he’d give anything for that kind of job. Except the guys kissing his hand part, that’d be pretty awkward.

Zidane was snapped from his thoughts when Garnet came before the leader of the black mages. He was taller than the others around him, and Zidane wondered if the mages set each other apart by their height. Or was it that those with more magical power were just naturally taller? The world outside of Alexandria was a weird place…

“Good day to you, Princess of Alexandria.” The leader bowed with a flourish before Garnet, and straightened up nicely. “I am Number Two Eight Eight.”

“Two Eight Eight?” Zidane asked, “like two hundred eighty eight?”

“No,” No. 288 said, turning to Zidane with the emotionless stare that all Black Mages possessed, “like Two Eight Eight. Number Two Hundred Eighty Eight stopped moving three years ago.”

Zidane didn’t get it at all. “You guys are named by numbers?”

“It is no different than you,” No. 288 replied matter-of-factually, practically shrugging at the Dark Warrior, “We just prefer numbers.”

Garnet gave Zidane a disdainful frown. “Remember, Mr. Zidane, you need to at least attempt to be a little more diplomatic when it comes to meeting other leaders.”

“Well, they could attempt to not be weird as hell,” Zidane countered. Garnet and No. 288 didn’t so much as twitch, but they stared at Zidane mutely. When the monkey man turned to Steiner for some sort of guidance, the guard simply sighed heavily.

“I apologize for Zidane’s behavior.” Garnet curtsied despite not wearing a dress to the leader, and attempted to mend the bruised fence, “It is truly an honor to meet you, No. 288.”

“We have been expecting the Dark Warriors for years.” No. 288 said. He raised his hand and everyone looked up at it. He pointed to a large building in the distance. It was so large that it peeked out over the dead trees. “The Wind Crystal is in that shrine.”

“Awesome!” Zidane said, slamming his fist into his palm. He then remembered Garnet’s frown, and he winced. Man, it wasn’t this hard impressing hot traveling chicks last he checked. “I mean… let’s go…?”

No. 288 shook his head slowly. “You cannot go on your own. The Wind Crystal is protected by our magics, and cannot be traveled to without a guide.”

“Please, No. 288. Time is of the essence. We need a guide as soon as possible.” Garnet extended her hands to plead with the leader of the black mages, and Zidane wondered to himself just who was the leader of the Dark Warriors, anyway. “Is there anyone you can suggest?”

No. 288 nodded. “I can. He is one of our greatest magicians. In fact, he is the guardian of the Wind Shrine, and has already been chosen by the crystal as a Warrior of Darkness.”

Garnet clasped her hands together and turned to the others with a beaming smile. Steiner was wearing a rare smile of his own, and Zidane shrugged. “Sounds like a plan. A black mage sounds like the perfect Dark Warrior.” He pumped a hand in the air, and for once, no one gave him a horrified face. “Show this mage, No. 288!”

No. 288 nodded and stepped aside before asking a passing black mage maid to collect the Dark Warrior. The three stared as the mage scampered off, and in only another minute, a different black mage stepped forward, next to No. 288. He was...

Zidane’s jaw dropped. He turned lightly from the mage to Steiner and back again. “Holy…”

The black mage was huge, taller even than Steiner. He bowed with the same flourish that No. 288 did before standing upright. He brought his staff to the floor with a loud “Crack!” and snapped his heels together in a black mage salute to Zidane, the leader of the Dark Warriors. “I am Number Seven Seven Six, and it will be my pleasure to work under you to save our world, sire.”

Zidane stared at the giant mage, and suddenly he smiled brightly, his tail twitching in utter delight. This was going to be the best group of Dark Warriors in *history*.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much about FF3 here; most of this is just FF9 stuff. I bet you thought our chosen Dark Warrior was going to be Vivi, huh? Plot twist! Vivi's *dead*! ...Okay no he's not, but he'll be here soon, I promise!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this; I've certainly been enjoying fixing everything up! <3


	3. The Wind Shrine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No. 776 talks a little bit about his family on the way to the Wind Shrine. It appears, however, that they were followed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo everyone! I reworked this chapter a lot. Reading the original over actually kind of made me angry. It was really poorly done at the beginning and end, so hopefully it will have been improved upon so far. Hope you guys enjoy it!

The Dying Forest was beautiful, in a spooky way. Everything was so quiet, and what few green things that did exist were little more than weeds feeding off the flora that had already died. Soon, those too would die, sucked dry by black mages teaching their children the art of spell casting. Walking through the woods was a natural sign for people to remember their own mortality. Zidane felt a little guilty that he found the place calm and beautiful even while noting that the only reason it was so calm was because there were no animals that hadn't already died. ...He hated the thought that perhaps his own death would be this calming...

Zidane had to get his mind off of all of this morbidity, and he turned to the black mage Dark Warrior, hoping to learn more about him. “So, No. 776.” He began, slowing down until they were walking side by side, “What is it like being a black mage? I mean, you're human, right? Are there girl and boy black mages? How do you tell with all your robes and stuff? Are *you* a girl black mage?” Steiner rolled his eyes in exasperation, and Garnet tried to keep from giggling too audibly.

No. 776 cocked his head lightly, as if trying to think of the answer to such questions. “What is it like being a black mage? I suppose the same question could be asked of you, sire. What is it like to have a tail like a monkey? We are human, in a sense, but I have been me my whole life. I cannot fathom what it would be like to be someone else.”

Well, he had a point, but Zidane still snorted a bit, “What's up with all this ‘sire’ stuff?” he asked, flailing slightly as they walked, “It's not like I'm the savior of the planet or anything! Just call me Zidane, alright?”

“Of course, Zidane,” No. 776 replied, bowing lightly in respect, “I apologize for my earlier transgressions.”

“That's somehow worse!” The monkey-man groaned and crossed his arms. “You and Garnet are so stuffy. This isn’t the way an awesome as hell adventure should be!”

“Who's stuffy?” Garnet asked suddenly, putting her hands on her hips with a frown. “Nothing is wrong with learning a few manners, you know!”

The black mage blinked his shining eyes at Zidane, looking a little lost even as Garnet went on a small tangent, “I don't understand, si- Zidane. What do you wish me to be…?”

Zidane gestured to all of himself, as if that explained everything. “You know, loose!” ...No. 776 didn’t get it. He cocked his head, and Zidane flailed. “You gotta be more like me if you wanna travel with me! Come on, loosen up bud!”

No. 776 might have looked mortified at the thought of “loosening up”, if the rest of the group could even see his face with his wide brimmed hat in the way. However, the way he tensed at the thought showed he wasn't used to being as wild as Zidane. “…Bud…? But my name is…”

Zidane punched the black mage on the arm in a friendly manner, something that made No. 776 whine in protest. “Well now your nickname is 'Bud' now. Honestly, don’t you guys have nicknames? Something easier to say than just huge numbers?” The monkey-man was scared to death of the day that the black mages started getting to the thousands.

“Nickname… nickname…” No. 776 rubbed his arm lightly and thought for a moment; the word seemed very alien to him, like it was in another language that he couldn't decipher. After a moment of trying it out on his tongue and considering the context, he seemed to understand. “Ahhh, you mean like my little brother.”

Now it was Zidane’s turn to be confused. He didn’t doubt that the black mages could have siblings (although that would imply that there *was* some form of sexual reproduction, which only furthered his desire to see a female black mage), but he was surprised to find that No. 776 only equated “nickname” with his little brother. “Yeah, I guess. What’s your little bro’s nickname?”

“My little brother is living with humans like you,” No. 776 said. He nodded as they continued through the Dying Forest, with no end to the journey in sight. “Those in Dali wanted to see just how we differed from you humans. Since I was chosen to become the temple guardian, and my little brother’s and my parents had already stopped moving…”

“Oh, that’s horrible…” Garnet looked saddened at the very thought of where the story was going. “Your little brother was living on his own? That’s so sad.”

No. 776 shrugged, as if he didn't find the circumstances that negative. Perhaps living in a place where everything was dead made them become desensitized to it. “Well, that’s why I asked him to go with the humans of Dali. I knew they would care for him in my stead. He sends me letters every few weeks, so we stay in touch.”

“Well, that’s good!” Garnet proclaimed. The two nodded at each other and went back into a walking rhythm, and there was silence for a while as the group continued to trudge through the foliage.

Suddenly Zidane growled in anger. “But that… that doesn’t explain anything!”

No. 776 adjusted his hat. “It doesn’t explain what, si- Zidane?”

“The nickname, the nickname!”

“Oh, right!” No. 776 looked sheepish as he realized his mistake. “I’m sorry. I forgot what we were talking about. So my brother is living with the Dalians, but they had a hard time calling my little brother Number Seven Seven Seven every time, similar to you, Zidane,” He gave the Dark Warrior a pointed look, and Zidane chuckled and looked away, “so they gave him a name more similar to a human one. Now his human name is Vivi. I suppose that is similar to your nickname; is that true?”

“Vivi…” Garnet gushed. That was such a cute name… She did her best not to blush at the thought.

“We’ll be passing through Dali after we collect the Wind Crystal’s blessing,” Steiner said, partially to comfort Garnet’s desire to see Vivi, partially to remind everyone that he was indeed still there, “We can see Vivi and you may catch up before we leave for the Earth Crystal.”

No. 776 nodded lightly. “That sounds like a wonderful idea. I miss No. 777 very much.” The Black Mage looked like his spirits were lifted at the prospect of seeing his brother again. He pressed forward with determination, hoping to get the whole thing over with and see No. 777 again. Zidane turned to Garnet, who smiled at him lightly. The leader smiled and nodded back at her. Whether or not the princess would be taken back to Alexandria when they reached Dali, both wanted to go there and see the happy reunion.

\---

The temple looked rather old, which was obvious, as it was built around the crystal during the time that the black mages were still human. The architecture itself seemed to be from some era that only existed in history books, and thus only Garnet could recognize what time it was in, or what the name even was. All it looked to Zidane was a worn-down relic that could use a good tomb raiding, but he kept that little tidbit to himself as No. 776 approached and stood next to the creeping vines that grew up over the stones. “This is the Wind Shrine,” he announced with a grand flourish.

While No. 776 seemed to be proud of the shrine that his people had guarded for centuries, Zidane’s eyes showed that he was much more interested in exploring it, “Man, this place is huge! I can't wait to see what's hidden inside!”

“Yes,” Steiner said, clearly uninterested in Zidane's enthusiasm, “I wonder why you of all people would be so excited about searching for 'hidden' things.”

Zidane snorted at the dark knight, “Come on now, as the leader of the Dark Warriors, you don't think I would be as reverent as possible when dealing with other cultures' religious sites?”

Steiner opened his mouth, but Garnet quickly wore a disdainful frown and No. 776 gave him a completely blank stare, his bright lamp-like eyes staring into the dark knight's soul. Eventually, the dark knight let out a snort and thought better of his reprimanding. He turned away to see into the forest itself as Garnet walked up the stairs. “Well then, shall we go get the crystal's blessing?” she asked, smiling at the three men.

No. 776 nodded in return and swept to move along after the princess. Zidane looked smugly at his retainer before following the others, with a grumbling Steiner tromping after them. “Yo Rusty!” Zidane called after the dark knight; Steiner growled in response, “Be careful, you wouldn't want...” The young Dark Warrior stopped and turned around, looking out into the inky blackness of the dead forest. Only the whistling wind replied.

Everyone else noticed that the normally talkative thief was suddenly very quiet, and the other three turned to follow his eyes. “Zidane...” Garnet asked, feeling just as uneasy as the Dark Warrior, “...is something the matter?”

The monkey-man’s tail twitched, and he whipped out his daggers before crouching in a defensive stance. “We aren’t alone here,” he said quietly, motioning for Steiner to head inside, “I coulda sworn I saw something out there.”

Steiner placed his hand on the handle of his broadsword, and called back to Garnet, “Princess, I would advise you to take shelter in the temple. This monkey and I can handle whatever is out there!”

The black mage shook his head in response as he took out his own walking staff, which he used to channel the primal elements. “That won’t do us any good.” Zidane blinked, and he turned around to look at No. 776, who motioned out at the forest, “If this creature was able to get through to the temple, it must be much stronger than any of the normal creatures of Light. We would do better to retreat to a location where I can utilize the powers of the Wind Crystal fully. If that’s okay with you, sire.”

“You can do that?” Zidane asked. He looked at Steiner, and nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s head in.” Garnet let out a soft, worried tone as Steiner whirled around and jogged inside. He took the princess's shoulder and calmly led her deeper inside while Zidane sheathed his daggers and followed the others towards the crystal room. No. 776 turned around to watch the entrance while the rest of the party filed in behind him, “By the by, Bud,” Zidane called, “I thought I told you to stop calling me 'sire'!”

No. 776 turned to look at Zidane, one gloved hand curled around his staff and the other one on his pointed hat, keeping the large brim down so the wind didn't pull it straight off. Even though his face was really mysterious and it was setting off every one of Zidane's “must-uncover-this-mystery” nerves, the Dark Warrior wasn't sure he wanted to see what was underneath it; it might have been a portal into the middle of a black hole or something. “Ahh, I'm sorry, Zidane,” the black mage began. He turned back to the doorway and suddenly went rigid. In a flash, he rushed the monkey-man, “Master Zidane, watch out!”

“What the hell!?” Zidane shouted, dodging to the side as the black mage rushed past the thief and held his staff aloft.

“Begone from this holy ground, foul creature of Light!” The others turned to see what got No. 776 all riled up, and Garnet gasped out loud. A sickeningly beautiful monster advanced upon them dressed completely in a white robe. Her hair was made out of emerald green snakes, and her teeth were as long and sharp as a cobra's fangs. The creature reached out for Zidane, but No. 776 had gotten the monkey-man out of the way, and it managed to grab the black mage instead. It hissed in anger, but before it could do much harm to him, a crack of lightning erupted from the Dark Warrior's staff, and the creature was thrown backwards before landing harshly on the floor.

Zidane and Steiner drew their weapons while Garnet let out a horrified shout. She had never been in a battle or even seen something so hostile, and she was already too afraid to do much of anything. She retreated back towards the crystal as the Dark Warriors converged, “Holy crap, thanks for the save there, Bud.”

“Keep your focus!” Steiner shouted, steeling himself, “It's down, but now out!” The medusa dragged herself from the floor and let out a scream, which made Garnet let out a fearful scream of her own. Her knight twitched instinctively, fighting to keep from running to her side, “We must fight here... there's nowhere else to run!”

“There's no way we can abandon the crystal,” Zidane agreed, flipping his daggers in his hands as the medusa bared her fangs and charged, “get ready, here it comes!”

The two front-line warriors rushed to meet the monster head on, and from the way the men shouted, Garnet couldn't help but wring her hands, worried for their safety. “I don't... what sort of white magic could I use...? Ohhh, if only I had studied the incantation for a protection spell!”

“What about a cleansing spell...?” No. 776 asked as he stumbled back to stand next to the princess. Garnet turned to him as he raised his staff and conjured up a fireball in his gloved hand. He tossed it over Zidane's head like he was throwing a grenade, and it splattered all over the medusa. The monster screeched and retreated from the fire, giving both Zidane and Steiner a much needed break.

Garnet, meanwhile, looked up at No. 776 with a worried look in her eye. The black mage seemed to be slowing down, and his breathing was getting labored, “Well... I don't know, I can only pull some poisons out of the body, what's wrong?” She gasped as the black mage dropped to one knee, and she reached out to grab his arm and inspect the holes in his sleeve. She hadn't noticed it before with all of the lightning, but when the medusa grabbed him, one of her snake hairs must have bitten him! “Oh no, oh no, No. 776!” She immediately began the incantation of Panacea, praying that it was a poison that was spreading through his body and not something worse.

“L-lady Garnet...” No. 776 whispered, twitching lightly as his body fought desperately to fight off the infection, “I... I can barely move...”

“What do you mean?” Garnet asked, reaching out to touch his shoulder. She recoiled when she realized just how rough it felt, and she placed her hands over her mouth in realization. “This isn't poison, it's turning you into stone!”

No. 776 looked down at his gloved hand, noting how colorless it looked. “Oh my... this wasn't... supposed to happen...”

Garnet shook her head. Wasn't supposed to happen!? She never even began the basics of the Esuna spell! She couldn't heal No. 776 like this, but maybe... “Zidane! Zidane, Steiner!” She shouted, waving them down desperately, “We need a soft! Do either of you have a soft needle!?”

“Soft!?” Zidane shouted back at Garnet. He looked over and nudged on Steiner's shoulder, “Did you pick up any needles, Rusty?”

Steiner shoved back on the thief with a roar, “You were the one who used all of Queen Brahne's money on those daggers of yours! We had no money for softs!”

Zidane opened his mouth, but he found that he was at a loss for words. He whirled around to look at No. 776, who seemed to be unable to move; Zidane's decision to use all of his money at once on a set of weaponry was killing No. 776 as they spoke. What did he... what had he done!? “Dammit, I didn't mean for this...! Rusty, hold her off!”

“ME!?” The captain shouted in retort.

Zidane had already sprinted off, but he called back, “Those snake hairs can't bite through your rusty armor! Just hold her off!”

“Zidane, come back here!” Steiner shouted. He would have chased after the thief, but the medusa lunged at him, and he barely was able to dodge one of her blows.

Zidane, meanwhile, rushed past Garnet to slide at No. 776's side. He knelt down in front of the black mage and grasped at the tall man's shoulders. “No. 776, hang in there! Hold it together!”

“I-I'm so sorry, Zidane...” the black mage said softly, for his lungs had already begun hardening, “I was... absolutely useless...”

“No! No no no NO!” the Dark Warrior shouted, shaking the black mage who was practically a statue at that point, “You're not useless! It was me! I never traveled with other people before, and I was only thinking about myself!” And now... because of his selfishness...!

“Zidane...” No. 776 rasped, “I... wanted... to help...”

The Dark Warrior cursed his ineptitude. He was supposed to be the leader of the Dark Warriors... to protect and lead them into battle, and his new friend, the person who offered his life to him when everyone else had been judgmental and antagonistic towards him... No. 776 was writhing and dying, and if he had bothered to think about other people for once in his life, then this wouldn't have happened! “776! 776, please!”

There was no answer. The stone had completely taken effect, and 776's bright, shining eyes that once peered out from under his pointed hat were now gone, and the life-like statue of a tall, robed black mage sat doubled over, as if in immense pain. Zidane's tail thrashed and he grasped at his head. “No! No, this wasn't supposed to... this wasn't supposed to happen this way!”

“Zidane!!” the dark knight shouted from across the way, “pull yourself together, damn you!”

And if he didn’t do something soon, Steiner would meet the same fate, and they would all die and he was supposed to *do* something, dammit! The leader of the Dark Warriors stood up and whirled around. His tail stuck straight out and he held his daggers in front of him. “This is it. This is for everything! All of you and your bright lights, destroying our world! I won’t let you take anyone else!”

For someone condemning the light, the monkey-man seemed pretty bright himself. He was so bright, in fact, that both Garnet and Steiner shied away from him like he was a monster himself. He didn’t seem to care by that point, however. All that mattered was beating the crap out of that medusa monster and taking care of his friends!

Steiner stumbled backwards, and he would have tripped over his own two feet if he hadn’t run into a temple pillar as a bright, reddish blur practically flew past him. Garnet had to hold her hands over her eyes and turn away from the light that poured from Zidane's being. Any person born from Gaia was used to living in darkness, and their eyes were so sensitive to the light that Zidane's explosive energy blinded the both of them. All Garnet and Steiner could hear was a horrifying scream, followed by a roar from Zidane that made the princess's very soul tremble.

The summoner then heard a great blunt blow followed by a grunt of pain, and before she could even crack an eye open, she felt the Dark Warrior, who had been knocked away from the medusa, barrel straight into her, and the two tumbled to the floor, shouting and groaning the whole way.

The light had dimmed, and Garnet could see again; she could see that Zidane was passed out on top of her, apparently the victim of an intense ram to his gut. She moved to push him off of her and begin her magical healing, but she froze when she heard the medusa scream and bear down upon the two of them, intent on finishing off Zidane, who posed the biggest threat. Garnet gave a cry and shrunk down in horror, grasping at the muddled Zidane...

...a sword, coated with the power of darkness, rose up from behind the creature. Steiner's eyes burned with the fire of determination, a determination that made sure *no one* hurt his princess. After all, a medusa couldn't very well hurt Garnet when her head was rent from her shoulders by a sword infused with shadow, right?

Right.

The medusa's head flew off of her body and landed with a satisfying “splat!” on the floor. Garnet, after checking to make sure that Zidane hadn't been bitten, took a deep breath and fought to calm her shaking knees as she stood. “Th-thank you, Steiner,” she said to her retainer.

The dark knight, meanwhile, reached out to offer his hand if she needed something to hold on to, “Princess, are you alright?” he asked, “that monster didn't hurt you, did it?”

“I'm fine, Steiner. I...” Garnet was interrupted when she heard a groan from the young man on the floor, and she immediately whirled to tend to Zidane. “What about Zidane? Is he okay? Zidane, are you alright?” Garnet's bodyguard curled his lips into a disgusted frown, but he stood by his princess's side as she gave the Dark Warrior a once over, just in case.

The monkey-man, meanwhile, was already pushing himself up on his hands and knees, shaking himself out like a wet dog to wake himself up faster. “Ugh, I'm fine, just... what the hell happened?”

“That's what I want to know, you squinty-eyed monkey-boy!” Steiner growled as Zidane flipped over, landed on his rump, and rested his arms on his upraised knees. Both he and Garnet watched as Steiner continued his rant, shaking his hand angrily at the boy. “You were as bright as the full moon at night! In fact, I'd say it was even brighter!” Steiner glared at the tailed-boy with a sneer that made Zidane look away in annoyance, “I'd say that you were as bright as the Devil Sun itself...!”

“Steiner, please!” Garnet cried in horror, “Zidane's a Dark Warrio- no, he's the Leader of the Dark Warriors! He simply can't have light within him. It'd be everything that's against this world!”

Zidane watched as the two bickered, and he squinted his squinty eyes, “What are you guys even talking about? I just... I remember a flash, and I was so angry, I couldn't... hold it in... I've never felt anything like that before.”

Garnet turned to look at the Dark Warrior, and she pursed her lips, trying to find the appropriate words to use. “Oh Zidane, It was like nothing I've ever seen either. I think... If I had to hazard a guess, you borrowed the power of the Crystal... It was like you were Transformed by its power into a holy being...”

Zidane nodded, “Yeah, I certainly felt that power. It was like ever piece of me was on fire, if you know what I mean.” He winked at the princess, whose stoic face showed she didn't know what he meant. He sighed and continued, “It was like I was in some sort of Trance. Heh. Trance, Transform. I never realized they were so similar before.” Steiner snorted as the leader pushed himself up, and Garnet collected her rod to stand. “By the way, what happened to the Medusa?”

Steiner snorted, again, before he gestured to the decapitated head with his, well, still-attached head. “I removed its head from its shoulders to protect the princess. It's dead now.”

The Dark Warrior looked behind Steiner as the Princess stared at the grizzly scene, “You sure about that, Rusty?” Steiner glared at Zidane, his face a mixture of rage and confusion, but when Garnet did a jittery little dance and squealed, the dark knight turned slowly around. The three stared in horror and disgust at the head of the Medusa, which was floating in the air and snarling. The thing gnashed its teeth, but that's not what the three were really worried about:

“How in all of Gaia does that even WORK!?” Steiner shouted.

“It's a monster of light,” Zidane asked, moving to stand next to his fellow Dark Warrior and pull out his daggers, “does it really need to follow natural physics?” Steiner sighed as he drew up his great sword. As much as he hated to admit it, the monkey had a point.

The dark knight barely heard Garnet whimper behind him as the Medusa let out a screech, and Steiner set his jaw and prepared for the confrontation. “Zidane, if anything should happen to me...”

Something snapped inside of the princess. She remembered seeing No. 776, writhing in pain as the stone poison set in his veins. If that happened to Steiner...! She had to do something. She had to! “Nothing will happen!” Garnet said, pushing herself between the men and standing before them. Steiner cried out and reached to pull her back, but she twisted from his grip. “I won't let it hurt anyone ever again! Understand, you monster!?”

The Medusa howled and charged, but before Zidane or Steiner could leap in front of her to take the hit, she twirled her rod and slammed it into the creature's eye, sending it falling backwards. Even Zidane jumped a little at the pained shout the Medusa cried, and Garnet raised her staff. “O Mistress of the Cold, Lady of Frost, One Tied to the Crystal of Water, I beseech thee!” Garnet focused the energy of the Crystal of Water into her staff and released it all at once. “Shiva! Come to me!”

Where the three were at that moment, no one could say; all that was in the room was a statue and the floating head of a very confused Medusa. The room began to chill, and in just a few seconds, ice began to form on the floor and walls of the room. In a flurry of snow, the Lady of Frost, Shiva herself, appeared. She hovered above the floor, her toes barely touching the ground, and her beautiful garments swayed around her as the snow kissed her blue cheeks. Her very presence caused the air in the room to crystallize, and the whole area became dangerously close to hitting absolute-zero; it was just the way Shiva liked it. The Eidolon of Darkness held her hand up before the Medusa could even think of trying to move in the frozen wasteland, and when Shiva clenched her hand into a fist, the air itself moved to form an icy tomb, completely encasing the monster in ice. Shiva frowned stoically; given half the chance, the thing would just break out of the ice the moment she left, and so she raised her hands and slammed them together, as if she were crushing a fly in the air. Instantly, the ice encasing the Medusa's head shattered as if Shiva had crushed it with her bare hands, and the pulpy, frozen head collapsed to the floor without a word.

That was all that was needed. Shiva slipped down, into the ice that she created on the floor, and was gone.

All Zidane remembered was Garnet's chanting and summoning ritual, and the next thing he knew, the place was as cold as death and the monster was frozen, oozing defrosting blood. It was as if time had stopped and then restarted for him. “Wh-what happened?” He asked, grasping at his bare arms and rubbing them to keep the blood pumping.

Garnet stared at the sight before her, both horrified and giddy. The power that she had at her fingertips, at her beck and call! She could feel Shiva whispering in her ear, congratulating her on her first real summon. “I... I-I-I... I did it,” she said, as if she herself couldn't believe it, “I summoned Shiva, and she saved us all.”

Zidane looked at the princess, trying to decide if her wild, euphoric look was a good thing or a bad one, “I-I see that, but uhm...” The Dark Warrior would have continued, but at that moment Garnet's adrenaline ran out, and she collapsed into Steiner's arms.

“Princess!?” the dark knight cried, “Princess, speak to me!” He shook her lightly, clutching her close as her breath came in ragged gasps.

“I-I'm fine,” Garnet replied, reaching up to take his arm and try to push herself upright. She tried to smile at him reassuringly, but it came out crooked from her exhaustion, “I'm just... tired, is all. Shiva had to borrow my energy to form here, and it puts a lot of strain on my body.”

Steiner knelt before her and bowed low as Garnet took a deep breath to help stand tall, “I know that more than any other knight at the castle, Princess, but this is the first time it has taken such a toll on you. I was worried, and I apologize.”

“Indeed,” Garnet agreed with a nod, “This was the first time I've summoned an Eidolon other than Choco. Next time, I'll be used to it.” She hoped.

Steiner didn't want to let the matter drop, but Zidane interrupted the heart-to-heart with a reminder of their friend's circumstances. “Yo guys, what about No. 776?” He turned and jogged over to the cold and icy statue of their friend, and he dropped to his knees to inspect the statue that was once No. 776. The Dark Warrior reached out; he hardly realized that it was cold to the touch, he was trembling so hard. It was... his fault that this had happened. “Dammit, Bud. I'm so, so sorry...”

“Is there absolutely nothing we can do?” Steiner asked, clanking up to stand next to Zidane as his tail thrashed in rage. The tailed man slammed his fist to the floor, and the dark knight placed his hands on his hips, “There must be something!”

Garnet's voice was small compared to the men's rage, but she still commanded their attention when she coughed, “Do you think that maybe the Wind Crystal could do something about No. 776?” She looked up at the dark crystal; it was No. 776's patron crystal. Perhaps it could find a way to fix this!

As if responding to Garnet's plea, the three heard a tinkling sound in their heads, and everyone whirled to look up at the Wind Crystal, whose very being emanated an aura of security. “My dear children, we must talk...” it said, and the three could see that it was fighting to remain darkened during this trying time. It was beginning to shine unnaturally, and only Zidane, with his tiny, squinted eyes, was able to look at it without turning away.

“Well? What's up?” Zidane asked, blinking as Steiner shielded his eyes and Garnet trembled. “What do we need to talk about?”

The Wind Crystal did not reply.

Zidane waved a bit, his temper flaring. “Hello?” he asked, waving his hand, as if trying to get its attention. When that didn't even work, Zidane grumbled and crossed his arms, “This stupid thing said we needed to talk and then ignored me? What's wrong with it?”

Steiner frowned, having a faint inkling about what was going on. He coughed and took a step forward, bowing reverently to the crystal. “Please do what you can to save No. 776, Crystal of Wind!”

Immediately, the Wind Crystal twinkled, and the three heard its “voice” in their heads. “There is nothing we can do to release No. 776 from his prison. Not with the power that we have left.”

Zidane's glare could kill, and he let out a shout, “What are you doing!? Why won't you answer me? Aren't I the leader of the Dark Warriors!?”

The crystal did not reply, which made the tailed-boy let out a growl of frustration. Steiner's eyebrow quirked, but decided to play mediator for the time being. He reached out to plead with the crystal and ask what Zidane had done wrong, “Is there a reason you will not speak to Zidane, Great Wind Crystal?”

The crystal seemed happy to answer Steiner's question with a very simple answer; “We do not answer him because he's not a Dark Warrior,” the crystal said flatly, or as flatly as a sing-song tinkling crystal could make.

There was silence for a moment as everyone took their time to process this information, whereupon Zidane exploded, “What the hell are you talking about!? The Water Crystal dragged me off to save this stupid planet and I get No. 776 killed and now suddenly I'm not a Dark Warrior!? This isn't funny, what in the world is going on!?”

“Oh no. Ohhhh no...” Zidane stopped his rant, and the men turned to look at Garnet, who had her hand over her mouth as realization dawned on her face. She gulped audibly and took a step forward. “G-Great Wind Crystal? Am... Am _I_ the other Dark Warrior?”

“Of course you are,” the Wind Crystal replied, “Was there confusion? We were unaware.”

Steiner watched, jaw dropped, as Garnet's face exploded in red. “P-Princess. Wh-what are you talking about...?” he asked, perplexed.

“Oh, Steiner, I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you,” Garnet partially lied, “but I really couldn't tell anyone... you remember when you were fighting that land turtle? When you were doing the test for the Water Crystal?”

“Oh yeah, it was a pushover,” Zidane said, “I can't imagine anyone getting beaten by that stupid big- waitaminute...” The young man let out a shout the moment he caught on. “How did you know what monster we were fighting in there? Unless...!” Steiner cried out in horror as Zidane jumped up, “I _knew_ that someone came into the room before the door slammed on us! You were in there the whole time!”

“Princess, you were hiding in there the whole time!?” Steiner cried, feeling the onset of a heart attack, “You could have been hurt! This is why I tell you and tell you to keep out of harm's way!”

“But I can't do that anymore! You heard the Wind Crystal!” Garnet insisted, pointing up at the darkening crystal, “The Water Crystal must have started the test the moment I entered the room. I'm a Dark Warrior, I'm the _leader_ of the Dark Warriors! You can't tell me to go back home; I was chosen to save Gaia!”

Steiner looked up at the Wind Crystal, taking his time to process this revelation. “So that's why the Water Crystal ignored everything that Zidane had said when it was explaining our destiny.” The pieces were all falling into place, “And all along, this thief wasn't even necessary!”

As if to make a point, he turned to sneer at Zidane, but the young man ignored the dark knight and turned instead to the statue of No. 776. “So... that's it then? What about No. 776? I messed up, but he's my bud, and I can't just leave him like this! Don't we need four Dark Warriors?”

Garnet nodded, pursing her lips as she noted Zidane's mannerisms. His guilty look towards the black mage showed just how much he hated letting someone get hurt on his account. It must have been a worse feeling, especially since now they knew that Zidane wasn't even a Dark Warrior. If he wasn't here, then perhaps the black mage would still be safe...

Garnet shook her head. The past was the past, and they had to move forward. With a heavy heart, the princess took a deep breath and looked up at the crystal. “That's true. What can we do about the Warrior of Wind, Great Crystal?”

“His brother is his closest living relative,” the Wind Crystal replied, “With my last ounce of power, I will give my blessing to him. Dark Warriors, travel to Dali as soon as you can. He will be in danger; the Light Monsters will be after him once I have given him the blessing.”

Garnet, the true leader of the Dark Warriors, nodded and gulped, trying not to tremble. “I-I understand. We must go now, Steiner, before Vivi is hurt.” She clutched at her heart, her jaw set. “If I am to lead, I shall begin now. Let us go and collect Vivi as soon as possible.”

“Indeed,” Steiner replied, “Princess Garnet, you have always shown great promise in becoming Queen of Alexandria. You were able to speak to No. 288 when that monkey began ruining everything. You may be in danger during this journey, but I could not have hoped for a better leader of the Dark Warriors.”

Garnet didn't seem to be quite as sure of herself as Steiner was of her, but that was when Zidane stood up and faced her, his expression stony as he nodded, “Rusty's right, Garnet.” He smirked at the captain before returning to Garnet, who didn't look quite as small anymore. She set her shoulders and placed her arms at her side, and the thief continued: “I mean, you talked with No. 288 like a natural born leader. I'm sure you can do it.”

There was something wrong with Zidane's demeanor, and Garnet wondered if there was an underlying reason for his behavior. She cocked her head, her brow furrowed in confusion, “...Zidane...?”

“So I guess you guys don't need me then, huh?” The young man rolled his shoulders, looking a little remorseful. “You don't need some ragged vagabond to muck up everything more than he already has, right?” Steiner's eyes narrowed. Was Zidane honestly trying to guilt the two of them into letting him accompany them? “I was hoping I could do something for No. 776, but I guess I should leave that to the professionals. Take care of Garnet, Rusty. I'm looking forward to seeing you again when you two come home.”

Steiner snorted as Zidane turned on his heel, “Good riddance! He didn't even bother properly addressing your majesty by your correct title!”

Garnet looked over at the statue of No. 776, and she wrung her staff and bit her knuckle in thought. Steiner turned and nodded at his princess, feeling that things were definitely looking- “Zidane, Zidane, wait!”

...They were *this* close... Steiner sighed and clanked after the princess as Zidane turned to face her. She caught up with him and sighed as she clutched her staff tighter. “Zidane, I know your heart's in the right place. I saw that power you possessed. Wherever it came from, it saved us, and I could tell it came from you because you want to protect Gaia. Dark Warrior or no, I-I wouldn't object to you coming with us, as long as you wish.”

Zidane grinned roguishly at Garnet before leaning in to study her expression closer. His tail flicked playfully, like a cat who had found some prey, when the princess suddenly couldn't meet his eyes, “What's that, Garnet? You want this filthy vagabond to muck up your royal entourage? I don't know about you, but I'm betting people are going to talk...”

“Zidane, please!” Garnet groaned in frustration. She tried to hide her small smile as she placed her hand on her hip and tried to look authoritative, like a true Dark Warrior leader. “People aren't that set on gossiping about stuff that doesn't pertain to them!”

“You'd be surprised, your highness,” Zidane chuckled as Steiner approached and stood by his princess. The thief raised his hands and retreated a few steps when he noted the captain's bloodshot, furious eyes, and he smirked and returned to his nonchalant self. “But enough of that, I'll definitely come along. I'd love to meet that Vivi anyway, if only to apologize to him. It's pretty much my fault that No. 776 kicked the bucket.”

“Can you at least attempt to speak with some humility towards those who have sacrificed their all for you, you squinty-eyed scum?” Steiner hissed.

“Think about it, Rusty,” Zidane insisted, pointing to his own temple for emphasis, “The Wind Crystal said the rest of them couldn't restore No. 776 'with the power they have left' or whatever. That means that they're too weak to do it now, but once we save the world and get the darkness back to its original power, we can totally get rid of that stone curse!”

The very thought of being able to save their black mage friend made Garnet's eyes shine again, and she clasped her hands together over her staff, “Oh, Zidane, I hope you're right...! That'll give us yet another reason we need to succeed in our mission.”

“And it'll give me a reason to stay with you guys,” Zidane agreed, nodding. “The least I could do for messing everything up is to help fix it!” He took a second to look Garnet down and up before smiling lewdly, “Not as if you weren't reason enough...!”

Garnet's jaw dropped, and she retreated a bit to hide herself as Steiner practically threw himself in front of the princess to protect her from the monkey-man's prying eyes. “I'm watching you, you squinty-eyed, scum-sucking leech!”

Zidane's tail practically swept the floor with how fast it was wagging. Zidane loved setting the captain off, “Sure thing, Rusty.”

As Steiner chased the thief from the Wind Shrine, Garnet bit at her thumb and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't wrong about Zidane's Trance. That was a power that could only be granted by the Crystals. But if Zidane wasn't a Dark Warrior, how could he even come to possess such great strength...?

The princess shook her head. Zidane wasn't lying about his feelings towards helping No. 776. Whatever was going on with him, it didn't matter. The only thing she should focus on was protecting Vivi and saving Gaia.

...The very thought that she had such a great responsibility on her shoulders made the pit in her stomach get even heavier...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what was up with the Medusa boss in FF3. It like, had a head, with the snake hair, and that was it? Just a giant head with snake hairs. That was it. Not to mention it just kind of hung out in a tower and didn't seem to really be much of a point to it being there. What was even up with it, I mean really?
> 
> And so here we go. No. 776, of course, isn't going to be the real Dark Warrior we get to hang out with; it's obviously going to be Vivi. Don't count good ol' Bud out yet though! He's still a Dark Warrior, and he's not going to let a little stone get in the way of being spirit-y!
> 
> Also hope you guys liked the twist with Zidane, for those of you who didn't immediately figure it out. XD There's a new mystery at hand though! Why is Zidane so strong even if he's not a Dark Warrior!? Dundundun!!


	4. Insect Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, along with Steiner and Zidane, arrive in Dali, searching for the new Warrior of Darkness. On the other hand, little Vivi just started getting some very unsettling nightmares, all about a man with a tail. On top of that, Dali seems to have gotten a bug problem. If only things could stay simple for just one moment!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now THIS chapter I was looking forward to. This is the part where this story really started coming into its own and I knew what I wanted to do with it. Plus, it's Vivi's first appearance; what's not to love!?
> 
> I hope everyone enjoys it, this is where things really start picking up!

_He was all alone in the darkness. It was just how little Vivi liked it. If he lived in a world of complete darkness, he wouldn't have to worry about any light monsters coming and hurting him or the Dalians, whom he had come to love as a second family. He would always have dreams like this; sitting in the darkness and conversing with his brother or with Slai, his (second) best friend in the whole world._

_...Not that he was actually conversing with them; they were just figments of his imagination. Sometimes, though, he felt he could only be true to himself when he was speaking to himself. When he thought like that, Vivi wondered if he really was as weird as the other children in Dali said he was… Slai said he wasn't weird and that he shouldn't listen to the other children, but if he didn't want to be so lonely, perhaps it would be best to try and do something different for once, to at least pretend that he wasn’t weird. What did not-weird kids dream of anyway?_

_Something was coming out of the darkness. Vivi could tell, because in his dreams, he could see perfectly in the dark somehow. One didn’t need to worry about impossible things when one was dreaming, after all. Vivi didn't recognize the stranger as he approached, and the young black mage looked up at the figure with a blink. Was this person a figment of his mind trying to “not be weird”?_

_The figure seemed to be a young man with long, whitish hair and a tail that swished slowly back and forth. He wore a smile on his face that made Vivi's stomach twist. So much for not having a dream about weird people..._

_When the creature stopped in front of the black mage, the boy blinked when he began to speak. “So, you're the one whom the crystal chose?”_

_Vivi stared, dumbfounded for a moment, before he shook his head and tried to calm his beating heart. “I… I think you have me confused with my brother.”_

“ _Ah yes… your… brother…” Vivi didn’t know what to make of the figment’s tone of voice. “Well then, I guess you won’t be too hard to off.”_

_Vivi squeaked, his glowing eyes wide. “O…off?”_

_The creature smirked evilly and raised a hand. Vivi gasped and retreated when his beautiful world of darkness was surrounded by light, and it was so bright he couldn't see. All he could hear as he fell backwards onto his rear was the tailed creature's next announcement. “Stand still, creature. I’m here to kill you.”_

\---

Vivi awoke from his nightmare with a scream. The little black mage grasped at his hat and dragged it over his eyes, sobbing deeply and screaming his brother's name. He shouted so loudly that the girl who was sleeping in the bed next to him awoke with a start, and she instantly turned and jumped out of her bed. Dutiful Daughter Slai slid next to the sobbing black mage and hugged him close until the boy calmed down enough to whimper instead of scream. “Was it a nightmare, Vivi?” she asked gently.

“I-I don’t want to go to sleep again…” Vivi said, his voice muffled by his hat. Well, that answered that question.

Slai immediately wondered something different. “But you have to sleep don't you?” She gasped when a realization came to her, “Wait, *do you* have to sleep!? If you don't, you should tell Papa; he'd be happy to hear something like-” Vivi cast Slai a pitiful look, his bright eyes pleading. Slai looked guilty at putting her father's needs before her best friend's, and she sighed, nodding in apology. “I-I won't tell Papa that you haven't been sleeping if you don't want me to...”

Vivi was silent, and so was Slai. it took a moment, but finally the black mage lifted his hat and looked at Slai with his bright eyes. “I don’t want to go to sleep again…”

Slai snuck closer and hugged her friend. “Then don’t. But I’ll be here if you want to try again.”

Vivi nodded and curled up slowly, shivering lightly and trying to forget the nightmare he just escaped from. There were no words that were said, but no words needed to be spoken, either. _Thanks, Slai._

_You’re welcome._

\---

Zidane frowned as the he padded along the cobblestone road towards the tiny village of Dali. He had been in a fouler mood ever since he actually had to start treating Steiner with some respect. Feh, some princesses could be so finicky, especially when they were the chosen saviors of the planet. “I have told you again and again, monkey-boy!” Steiner shouted above the young man's thoughts, and Zidane rolled his eyes in reply.

“Honestly? Who said you had a say in anything I'm talking about, Rusty?”

Garnet, who was still riding on Choco as the Eidolon passed the two men by, gave her friend a chastising remark, “Zidane, you said you'd be nice!”

“Come on, you always take his side,” the thief grumbled, crossing his arms. He snorted as she urged the chocobo onward, ending the fight before it started. Zidane's tail flicked in annoyance as he continued to walk along, but he eventually decided to at least try to be diplomatic, if only to make Garnet happy with him again. “Well, whatever, I just don't see why a princess would be so interested in democratic decisions. Why're you so against the idea then, Rusty?”

Steiner clanked as he walked, but made no other sounds to show he was even putting some thought into his answer. “Because.” Not that it was much of an answer in the first place.

Zidane waited for a good half a minute before his tail thrashed, “...Because why...?”

“Just because! I don't need to answer to a lowborn, filthy mendicant such as you!” the dark knight hissed in response, and Zidane flexed his fingers open and closed to keep himself from getting a headache.

He decided to plead his case to Garnet, who had some sort of power over the knight, both as a Dark Warrior and as his princess. “So uhm, I take it that *you* can talk to Rusty without feeling like ramming your head into a brick wall...” He glanced back at the glaring knight with pursed lips. “...repeatedly.”

Garnet smiled in reply, as if she were trying to say she understood where he was coming from. “I suppose that's why his armor's hard as one, don't you think?” Steiner snorted from behind the both of them, reminding his princess that her jokes weren't lost to him, and she glanced behind her at the thief with a winning smirk. “Regardless, I agree with you, Zidane.”

“Are you *serious*, Princess!?” Steiner shouted, so loudly that Zidane had to dig his finger into his ear to stop the ringing, and he watched as Steiner clanked to jog up to walk alongside Choco and plead with her directly. “How could you possibly consider debasing yourself in such a fashion!?”

Garnet shook her head as she turned to her guardian, “Zidane is right, Steiner, and you know that.” Steiner's normally wide eyes narrowed into slits, and the princess shrugged. “For once, at least. A Dark Warrior is cause enough to attract crowds. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if everyone knew I was also Princess Garnet Til Alexandros?” She looked up to smile at Zidane, and the monkey-man melted at the sight of her angelic face, “I'm going to need an alias. What do you think is a good one, Zidane?”

Zidane let out a thoughtful hum as Steiner slumped, looking defeated, “We could try something simple, like Jenn, or Erika. Or how about...”

“...Something befitting a *princess*, scum!” the Dark Warrior shouted, whirling to shake his fist at the thief. Zidane watched impassively as the knight jumped up and down in rage. “It's bad enough that you're putting dirty peasant thoughts into her head; we don't need you ruining things even more!”

“Well, if I'm a Dark Warrior, shouldn't I have something that fits an adventurer, right? Something dark and brooding...” Choco clucked a bit, bored with the both the journey and the conversation, and the princess looked up, “It should be something that a Dark Warrior would have!”

Zidane shrugged, “What about 'Squall'?” and instantly regretted even speaking, the way Steiner's howling made his head hurt.

“Ugh,” the chocobo muttered, watching the knight rush after Zidane with a roar. “Just jam a knife into me. Make it quick, I'm done.”

“A knife...?” Garnet began, “We don't want you hurt, you know Eidolons are... Wait a minute... Zidane!” The men stopped and turned to her, and she waved them over, “Zidane, what weapon do you use?”

“Huh?” the thief asked, rubbing at the goose egg on his head from when Steiner actually caught him for a split second. He then placed a hand on one of the hilts and blinked at the princess. “You mean my daggers? What about 'em?”

“That's it! That's dark and scary! It's perfect! My name will be 'Dagger'!” ...She had to stop Choco to look back at the men, who had frozen in place, completely stunned. “...Wh-what do you think?”

“Uhm, well, I mean, if that's what you want,” the thief answered, scratching at his rear as Steiner clanked up beside him. “And I can say it's certainly *edgy* enough.” The knight thwapped Zidane upside the head, and he winced even as he chuckled. “I deserved that. Anyway, I think it's a wonderful name, Dagger! Zidane and Dagger, on a whirlwind, romantic adventure!” He could already hear the songs the bards would sing.

“I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Zidane,” the princess muttered, ushering Choco on and leaving the thief in the dust.

The chocobo, meanwhile, crowed a bit and bounced the princess in her saddle. “I *know* you don't believe that, because I'm *in* your head.”

Garnet rubbed the Eidolon along the ridge behind his ear and snorted, “Hush, let's just go.” Besides, there were more important things to worry about than romance... like Steiner begging for her not to leave him behind.

\---

Vivi never really liked walking outside of the Dali Laboratory. It was always so loud and scary, with so many people shouting and bartering in the market. He preferred the quiet of the Dying Forest, but he felt a lot more safe when he was walking with Slai. The villagers of Dali always tried to get the child to open up with happy greetings. “Good morning, Vivi!” Mrs. Stone called.

“Good day, Vivi!” Mr. Baker agreed.

“Helping out your father today, Slai?” Mr. Green asked as the two children passed by his vegetable stall, “What a good daughter to help her father so!”

“Aren't you two so adorable~” Mrs. Green said as Slai began bartering gently with the farmer, and his wife reached out to pet the black mage's pointed hat. Vivi tried not to shy away, “Are you going shopping today too, Vivi?”

The black mage made a noncommittal sound and looked away. He had gotten used to the attention of the Dalians, who had apparently been told to interact with him specifically to get him to open up, but he still felt too shy to do so. Slai could do it for him, after all, answering calls and waving back to people who spoke to them. In fact, whenever a new researcher arrived to Dali, they simply assumed that the black mage was mute until they were told otherwise. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't supposed to be investigating what made a black mage tick, and how different they were from “normal” human minds. If only they could figure out how to communicate with the child's mind...

Vivi didn't seem to keen on revealing what was going on in his mind, and instead let Slai speak for him like usual. Something was off today; something just didn't feel *right*. The nightmare he had last night was still fresh in his mind, and he couldn't help but feel that maybe it had something to do with something terrible that was going to happen. Now, more than ever, he wished his brother was with him to calm him down...

Vivi's hat bobbed when a new voice reached his unseeable ears. He could tell immediately that the voice was someone he had never heard before, and thus a visitor to Dali. “Man, you'd think for a town with a huge research center, there'd be a larger market, eh Dagger?”

Vivi turned lightly as Slai bartered with Mr. Green, and his shining eyes blinked as he watched the strange man and woman walk alongside each other down the market street, and something ran up the black mage's spine. The newcomer had a *tail*. “Zidane, please,” the woman said, glancing at the betailed man, “If it's not to your liking, you can stay at the inn while we look for Vivi. Besides, why are you with me anyway? You were the one who suggested we split up to look for him.”

Vivi's eyes widened as the man's tail twitched, and his heart skipped a beat. The twitch was a happy one, just like the long haired man in his dream...! “Well, I figured this was the best time for us to get to know each other. You know Steiner so well, so now it's time for me to...”

“Slai, Slai...” Vivi squeaked, whirling around and grabbing the little girl's dress. He tugged on her sash a little harder than he should have. How did those people know his name? How did they *know his name!?* “Slai, *Slai*!” he hissed urgently.

The little girl blinked and looked over at Vivi, away from the vegetables they were collecting for the day. “Vivi? Oh Vivi, you’re speaking outside of our rooms, I’m so proud of you! We'll have to tell Papa-”

“Not so loud…!” Vivi whirled around and made sure that the newcomers hadn’t noticed him. He then turned back and tugged on Slai until she politely interrupted herself from the farmer and followed the black mage. When the two were hidden well in an alleyway, Vivi clutched close to Slai and trembled. “Did you hear those people? That person - the loud one - he had a tail like the person from my dream!”

“The one that tried to hurt you?” Slai asked, her countenance furrowing as she thought about what that meant. She poked her head out of the alleyway to get a better look at the man with the tail, and then she looked back at her friend. “Is that really the same person? You said he had longer hair...”

Vivi was trembling and squirming in horror, as if he wasn’t sure why Slai was even asking this question. “I’ve never seen another person with a tail before, and he appeared the day after my nightmare! Who else could it be?”

Slai frowned and paced back and forth repeatedly. “Are they looking for you? They seem to be looking for someone...”

“Yeah,” Vivi said, nodding furiously. “The woman even called me by name. No one knows my name except for the Dalians here and No. 776. There must be something going on. I’m worried for my brother, Slai. I…” Vivi stopped and studied his friend’s face. It had gone pale, and it appeared that she was staring at something right behind him. “S…Slai…? What’s wrong…?”

The tiny girl lifted a quivering finger and pointed at something monstrously huge behind Vivi. “Th…tha…that…”

\---

Garnet and Zidane both snapped up, on full alert, when they heard a scream in the town's alleyways, and the entire village turned curiously at where the sound came from. Zidane glanced at the Dark Warrior and whipped out his daggers. “Yo, go get Steiner, I'll check it out!” The princess was about to speak, but the thief was already gone, scouting ahead with his speed.

“Be careful, Zidane!” she called after him, before pausing just a moment. She wanted to go with him; she was a Dark Warrior, after all, and she was supposed to protect the people... and yet she knew that Steiner would want to be there too. ...She tried not to admit to herself that she was just afraid as she turned to locate the dark knight.

Zidane, meanwhile, melted a bit at Garnet's worried call, and he decided to put his all into his little mission as he slide into the alleyway and took stock of what was going on. There were two children trembling before what looked like a heavily-chitinous, giant brown insect, which was able to burrow underground and sneak into the village without being seen. No doubt that it burst out of the ground once it found Vivi! These Light Monsters were getting creepier and sneakier by the second!

The little girl let out a scream as the boy, very obviously a black mage given his robes and pointed (yet floppy) hat, moved to hide behind his friend, “No! Go away!” the girl shouted, practically tripping over the black mage in her attempt to retreat from the creature. The ankheg snapped its mandibles and tried to slice the children in two...

The black mage's survival instincts kicked in at that point, and he raised his hands with a scream. A burst of fire exploded from his gloves, and the bug screeched as it fell back, reeling from the strike. The fire was little more than a cantrip, however. Zidane mused lightly that No. 776 had an immensely huge power compared to the little guy.

But wait! This was a young black mage in Dali! This must have been Vivi, Bud's little bro! The betailed boy gave a shout when the ankheg recovered from the initial burst of fire, and he rushed forward as the bug snapped its mandibles and prepared to strike...

Vivi and his friend cried out and clutched each other as the ankheg bore down on them, but Zidane was there, grabbing the children by their collars and leaping away from the danger, the children being dragged along in tow. He then dropped the two and moved between them protectively. “Vivi!” the betailed man snapped forcefully.

“Ahhh!” the Black Mage shouted in fear, cringing at the loud and intense tone his savior used.

The little girl looked at his tail, and her countenance turned dark. “What do you want, monkey man?” she hissed, her tone suspicious of the newcomer.

Zidane, as usual, didn't let people's perceptions of him get under his skin, and instead answered the girl succinctly. “Get out of here and find Steiner and Dagger. They’ll protect you. Vivi, you have to live!” Zidane dodged an attack by the monster and rolled about, attracting its attention away from the children. He was able to steal a glance at the two, and pointed in the direction of the town where he had just come from. “Didn’t you hear me? I told you to GO!”

Vivi flinched from Zidane’s forceful shout, unsure if he was more afraid of the bug or the scary man from his dreams, but he didn't have time to decide what to do, because Slai made the decision for him. She grasped her companion's wrist instinctively and dragged him away as fast as she could.

Vivi had a little trouble keeping up by Slai's side at first, but he was able to keep in step with her as they made their escape. She drew him closer and asked him seriously, “Vivi, can we trust him? What if he's leading us to his friends to hurt you? Should we go get Father instead?”

Vivi barely nodded, understanding where his friend was coming from, and yet... “I know what we talked about, and yet, something tells me...”

_You can trust the Dark Warriors, Little Brother. They will protect you with their lives._

Vivi turned his bright, spherical eyes on Slai. “Something… someone tells me he’s telling the truth.”

Slai wasn’t sure what Vivi was talking about, but she did know that he was better at taking care of himself than he usually showed. He didn’t talk much, but he could sling spells that she just couldn’t. Right now, she needed to trust him, so she did.

The two rushed out of the alleyway towards the giant crowd that was beginning to form around the alley and the two newcomers to the town. Everyone steered clear of the giant man in armor, who stood next to a beautiful woman whose expression was one of serene grace as the children approached. “Are you Vivi?” she asked, dropping down to look him in the eye. Her voice was filled with sugar and sweetness, and it was hard for the children not to trust her immediately even as she continued. “You can trust us with your safety. My name is Dagger, and I'm one of the Dark Warriors.”

_They will protect you with your lives._ Vivi remembered the words and nodded, his eyes shining brilliantly as she remembered... “My brother's a Dark Warrior...!” it was the reason he was even in Dali, because No. 776 couldn't take care of him when he had been chosen by the Crystal of Wind. “Is No. 776 here!?”

The mention of Vivi's favorite person in the whole world made Dagger look very guarded, and she glanced to the side, “N-no, he's not here right now, but we've come in his stead to protect you. Right now, the Light is after you, Vivi, and you're in terrible danger. We'll explain everything later, for now-”

Zidane interrupted everyone by charging out of the alleyway and startling the townspeople. “We'll tell everyone our life stories later! Everyone, get yourselves outta here! The monster went underground! It's under us right now!”

Chaos ensued as everyone began to scream, and they shot off in every which way. It was hard for Dagger to attempt to herd them into some semblance of order, and the knight, as a result, was flailing mightily as he approached the betailed man. “Zidane, what have you done?”

“I can’t tell the stupid thing to stop burrowing!” the one called Zidane answered, looking around as the knight shook his gauntlet in impotent rage. “We just have to be careful, and watch out for…” He was interrupted when the ground beneath him opened up, and the squinty-eyed man fell down, dropping directly into the hole. He barely had time to grab the edge of the hole before he was dragged completely into the abyss. “It’s… it’s got my leg…! Steiner, help!”

Slai and Vivi shivered in a corner while Steiner moved to help the thief up. Realizing that wouldn’t do much against such a large creature, he instead lifted his sword and, with a roar, thrust it into the pit just past the thief. They all heard a screech from within the sinkhole, and the ankheg burst from the pit, sending Steiner flying backwards. The large insect came out of its last altercation with a useless eye, and it snapped up Zidane in its mandibles in retaliation.

To be fair to the young thief, he did his best to fight back, punching the insect with his dagger and finding its exoskeleton to be, well, too chitinous for his weapons. “You little…! You want some of this?” He tried to keep the giant insect’s mandibles from slicing him to ribbons, but he really wasn’t expecting the insect to open its mouth and spew an acidic ichor all over him. He sputtered and slipped from the creature’s grip, falling a foot before crashing to the ground in front of the monster.

Garnet gasped at Zidane's predicament, and she moved to help him up, but Steiner was quicker, rushing forward to protect his princess and the queendom in general. He turned and hooked his plate-covered arm around her waist, hefting her up as easily as a grain of rice before tossing her over his shoulder and rushing her away from the acidic spit that the ankheg continued spewing from its mouth. After rolling away and making sure Garnet was okay, Steiner placed her back on the floor and moved to act. “Master Vivi, a little assistance would be appreciated!” the captain shouted.

“M…me…?” the child squeaked, looking up when his name was called so formally, “But I can’t do anything. It’s my… my brother's the one who…”

Vivi suddenly looked up when a presence flooded his entire being. _I’m here. You have to do it, No. 777. I’m here._

The black mage shuddered lightly when he felt his brother, and he blinked at the sky. _No. 776? Is that really you…?_

_You can do it. I’m with you, and the Wind Crystal stands at your side. My little brother, you’re the Dark Warrior. You can do it, so do it now!_

Vivi grasped his hat and wrung it tightly, unsure of what to do. He really wondered if the voice was his brother… where WAS No. 776…? “Its weakness is Ice!” He heard Garnet call out as she retracted the Scan spell and caused the tiny orb by her hand to disappear. “Vivi, we need you. Please!”

“Vivi…!” Slai screamed, grasping his long sleeves, “Don’t get hurt!”

The black mage trembled for the last time, and something snapped within him, as if his entire body flowed with an untapped power he never knew he had. He looked up and called out to the giant man before him. “Steiner!” The knight turned when he heard the black mage shout, and the icicles flew from his staff. It was a much more powerful spell than the last one; it looked like something that No. 776 could concoct. “Blizzara!” He shouted as the ice flew past the knight and froze the creature in place for a moment

Steiner gave Vivi a tiny nod in the little black mage’s direction, and swerved to face the Ankheg. “Princess!”

“I told you not to call me that!” the woman chastised.

“Get Zidane before that acid eats his body. I’ll lead it away from the both of you.” As if on cue, the creature broke from its icy prison and crawled over, snapping at the knight in anger. Steiner led the creature away from Zidane as the ankheg moved to face him. Meanwhile, Garnet rushed around the monster’s blind side and dropped next to Zidane.

“Are you okay?” she asked the thief, even though it was painfully obvious he wasn’t.

“My whole body is on fire…” he managed to sputter, even though much of his lips had burned away. “D…Dagger…”

Garnet wasn't sure what to do, but she did what she could. “Panacea!” Since the acid wasn’t technically a poison, very little was done to help the pain, and Zidane continued to writhe, his normally vibrant tail showed how much pain he was really in as it thrashed wildly. Garnet shivered at her inability to heal his pain. Why couldn’t she have learned Esuna before she ran away from home? It would have helped so much, and she would have been more useful. Regardless, there was something she *could* do. “Sit still. Cure!” After the soothing magic washed over his body, Zidane rolled on the ground as if he really were on fire, in an attempt to remove as much of the acidic crap all over his body. He flailed for a moment and then dropped, unmoving, to the ground, and Garnet dropped to her knees next to him with a cry. “Zidane, Zidane, are you okay? Speak to me, please…”

His small hand lifted up, and she saw him give her a thumbs up. “Just… a scratch…” He then dropped the hand to the floor and crushed himself further into the ground as if he were trying to bask on the warm floor. “Go check on… Rusty and Vivi…” and there he took a nap.

Garnet tried to find a place to pat him, but found that most of his skin was still coated in a small film of the ichor; he still must be in pain, and he was trying so hard not to worry her… Yet he was right, the Dark Warriors needed her more than he did at the moment, and she stood up. “Right, Zidane, I’ll find a better white mage than I to you fully when we finish this battle. You did well.”

The same hand feebly lifted in a wave of gratitude before dropping soundlessly back to the floor. It was then that Garnet turned around and went to speak with her warriors, and she had to duck to avoid an icicle to the face. Vivi was at the princess’s side, and it seemed that Slai was able to find a time to escape with the other villagers. “A…are you okay, Princess Garnet?”

Garnet was taken aback. “I didn’t call myself that. Why do you think I’m the princess?”

Vivi dug his shoe in the ground, looking guilty that he apparently said something *wrong*. “Mister Steiner called you ‘Princess’…”

Oh, that would explain it. She’d have to give her guardian a talk after this. She dropped down so she could inspect the child deeper. He had been fighting with Steiner, and Vivi hadn’t practiced as well as her knight. “Are you okay, Vivi?”

The boy didn’t know how, exactly, to respond to that. Princess Garnet herself was asking if he was okay, and it was a little overwhelming! He shied away when she reached out to check on him, and he nodded furiously, not entirely sure how to react to royalty. “I…I’m fine.”

Garnet smiled good-naturedly at the child - she was a little exasperated at what Steiner had done to change Vivi's perception of her - before standing up and nodding. “I’m glad. Come on, we need to help Steiner.”

“That would be very helpful, thank you!” Steiner called from across the way as he struggled against the ankheg’s mandibles with his broadsword. The monster drew back and instead bumrushed the dark knight, using its entire body as a club to bludgeon the knight and send him flying. He crumpled to the floor like a doll, and Garnet gaped with her hands covering her mouth

“Steiner…!” the woman screamed in horror, terrified for her knight’s life.

“Princess…” Steiner groaned, raising his gauntleted hand weakly, “Please… run…” It then dropped to the floor and he remained unmoving. The ankheg stared at the unmoving knight as Garnet debated whether or not to run to her knight's side, and then it turned to the remaining Dark Warriors, both of whom flinched and froze under its dead gaze.

“D…don’t worry, Vivi,” Garnet said, even though her voice cracked and her knees quivered. She took a step so she stood between the monster and Vivi. “I can call upon the guardians of the Crystals to protect us.”

“Like hell you will…” Garnet gasped when she heard Zidane's voice, and she turned to see the thief approach by her side, still covered in the acidic ichor. It was amazing to see that he was still standing, and Garnet moved to keep him upright as stumbled next to her. Despite being held up by the princess, he still seemed intent on helping them. “You haven’t rested enough from summoning that Shiva chick last time. You’re… not going to hurt yourself; Steiner and Vivi need you.”

Garnet opened her mouth, her face obviously worried. “But Zidane… you’re not fit to fight. You can't just assume...”

The ankheg didn't let her finish and charged the group, causing the three to scatter and dive for safety. Vivi, in his fear, tossed out several icicles in a desperate attempt to keep it away. They bounced mostly harmlessly off of the chitin, but they slowed the creature down enough to let Zidane and Garnet, who had fallen close together, to ascertain their next plan of action. “Zidane, we have to do something,” Garnet explained breathlessly, “If I can use Shiva, then this will all be over...!”

The thief glanced over at the icicles as the ankheg hissed and spat. The monster's chitin was too strong to slash through, and one misplaced move would get him sliced in half. If the thing really was weak against the cold, then... The thief's expression brightened when a thought struck him. “Don't worry, Imma take care of this. You guys stay back.”

“Zidane, *please*!” Garnet hissed, pleading.

Zidane sheathed his daggers and stood as the ankheg trained its eyes on him, and the betailed man charged. Garnet let out a scream as Zidane slid past and picked up an icicle, and the ankheg opened its mandibles, ready to voraciously bite the thief in two...

...Zidane drew the makeshift lance over his shoulder and let out a roar, thrusting it with all of his might into the creature's maw. It wasn't the sharpest weapon, but with the creature's soft insides, it did the job as it imbedded itself in the creature's nervous system. The ankheg writhed, thrashing wildly about, and Zidane had to jump away to keep from being rammed into like Steiner had.

Finally, with a pitiful cry, the creature dropped to the ground and curled up sharply, its multiple limbs twitching as the rest of its nervous system attempted to keep it going. The three fighters stared at the scene, wondering if it was truly over, and then Garnet looked up at Zidane. His legs looked like they were about to give out, and he turned to the princess, flashing her a smile with his waxy, damaged lips. “Hah, you gotta have more faith in me, Dagger… I’m stronger than I-”

He closed his eyes, dropped to his knees, and crumpled to the floor. Vivi quaked visibly as Garnet rushed forward, abandoning her staff so she could grasp his shoulders and shake him. “Zidane…? Zidane? Zidane!!”

Vivi waddled up to Garnet as she tittered and choked back sobs. “No, No, not you and Steiner, please, not anymore, not again...!” The little black mage looked up and jogged over to the knight, gently touching and then shaking him until he groaned.

“Princess Garnet, I think this knight is alive...!” Vivi called, trying to command his voice to be loud enough to be heard over her cries.

Garnet glanced up at Vivi's voice, and she tried to nod without hiccuping. “I-I don't know what I can do though; my white magic isn't enough to heal all of this...”

Vivi cocked his head, considering this, but then an idea struck him and he called out with a much more assertive tone. “Slai! Slai, I need you! Slai!!” At Vivi's intense, demanding voice, the Dalians began poking their heads out of the windows and doors of their homes, wondering if the battle was truly over.

Vivi continued to shout the name of his friend, over and over, until he saw Slai slip out of Mrs. Stone's home. “Vivi! Is that you? Are you okay?” She almost didn't believe it, she was so used to Vivi's voice being so small and demure.

Vivi nodded, waving her down, and she hitched her dress up and rushed to his side as the other townspeople began to leave their houses to form a circle around the warriors. Vivi tried not to let it get to him that all eyes were on him, once again, as he pleaded with his friend, “Slai, you have to listen to me, they're hurt, Slai! Go tell your father that we need some white mages!”

Slai snorted a bit, nodding. They were just researching white magic, and none of them were really masters of it... but she had never seen Vivi so determined before. It was a little scary; if it was important to Vivi, it had to be the most important thing in the world!

...Well, according to her, that was. It made Slai's heart swell knowing that Vivi actually cared about something. He looked like a person, rather than a passive doll. She had never seen him this way before, and she was glad for the change. With a nod, she rushed off towards the research center, and the crowd parted for her spectacularly, “Don't worry, Vivi! I'll be back soon!”

“Thank you, Slai. Thank you!” Vivi watched as she ran away towards the largest building in the area, and then he turned to Garnet, who was using all of her magic to stop what the black mage assumed were internal damages. She was sweating and fidgeting heavily, completely out of energy; she must have really been worried about her friends. They were the Dark Warriors, after all, and how could they defeat the light if they lost one of their own? It was necessary for each Crystal to be represented. If not, then…

…Well, Vivi wasn’t sure what would happen if there weren’t four people, but he assumed it would be harder than with. Garnet’s friends had to live, they just had to…!

It was around that time that a woman emerged from the crowds with various potions in hand. Vivi immediately recognized her as Mrs. Stone, who was... a pharmacist! Of course! He stood up and jogged over as she offered what little produce she had. “Can these potions help until the white mages arrive?” she asked hopefully.

Vivi wasn't sure entirely how to answer her, and he looked back to Garnet for an answer. She seemed too preoccupied to respond, however, so the black mage sucked in a deep breath and nodded. “Th-thankyou,” he squeaked before he grabbed the potions and shuffled away wordlessly. It was still hard to talk to the Dalians, even though they were trying to help... Oh man, if only No. 776 were here, being a Dark Warrior and helping him be brave...

“P-princess Garnet…” the black mage whispered as he approached. Garnet looked over at him and looked down at the proffered bottles. He gulped and offered her a few of the bottles. “Here are some potions from Mrs. Stone. Here, you can give these to Zidane, and I can help Mister Knight.”

Garnet looked at the bottles that were placed in her hand and nodded. “Right then, that sounds… that sounds good.” There wasn’t much else to be said; Vivi watched her choking back hyperventilating breaths, and she clutched the bottles to her chest, dropping back to the thief’s side to continue her work. Vivi didn’t have any time, however, to watch her; he had to take care of the Steiner person. Vivi wasn’t sure what to make of the group. Sure, they had saved him and fought the monster and protected Dali, but he still was afraid of his dream. Was No. 776 right? Were they really friends he could trust? Or was that really No. 776’s voice? Could it be a trick…? Regardless, these people did save the Dalians, so he decided it would be best to at least help them. It was the least he could do…

Garnet, meanwhile, was helping Zidane down the potions she had. He still wasn't moving, and that scared her more than the previous battle. If she had just been prepared for all of this Dark Warrior business, she'd be a better leader, and none of this would have happened! It was supposed to be easier than this; she had the power of the Crystal of Water on her side! “Zidane, please wake up,” she whispered, nudging him softly, “Zidane, *please*!”

There was a groan from the man, and he struggled merely flick his tail, like he usually did. Instead, his eyes flickered open, and his eyes met hers. “Hey, Dagger?” he asked after a moment of silence, “You sure you aren’t an angel? I wouldn’t mind dying if I could be with you the rest of eternity.”

Garnet would have reprimanded him for his audacity, but she was too happy to hear that he was actually speaking. “Please, just drink this, Zidane, there you go. How do you feel?”

Zidane made a face with closed eyes as the potions slid down his throat. “Freaking Crystals, I have to be alive; no way could heaven have stuff that tastes this horrible.” Garnet smiled, happy to hear that he was well enough to make jokes. “My whole body tingles with something. This better be pain because this isn’t even close to what I should be tingling with.”

“The acid’s not all gone,” Garnet explained, missing Zidane’s innuendo, “You’ll need to wash all of this gunk off. I hope the white magic can heal all of this…”

“Wash? Who takes baths, anyway?” Zidane groaned shutting his eyes to keep the sun out of them.

Garnet frowned and brushed some hair from his face. “People who don’t like acid covering their body.”

“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” the monkey man said matter-of-factly, a smile on his waxy lips.

Garnet snorted through her nostrils, but she wasn’t able to reply. The two were interrupted when they heard a scream from a little ways away. “PRINCESS! Princess, are you okay!?”

Garnet winced and Zidane bit his lip to keep from laughing too loud (the movement sent jolts of pain through his body), and soon Vivi approached, poking his fingers together lightly. “Uhm… I think Mister Knight wants to talk to you, Princess Garnet…”

“What was your first clue?” Zidane asked the black mage as his eyes flicked up to look at the boy. Vivi blinked at Zidane in bemusement, clearly wondering how he should answer that… “With him yelling, I’ll never get any sleep…”

“Steiner, it’s okay,” Garnet called out with a smile to the knight, “I’m here. I’m okay.” There was silence for a while. She took a deep breath, and released it in utter relief. She repeated herself, as if she weren’t sure that what she said was entirely true, “We’re… we’re all okay. We’re all okay…!” She took another deep breath, and Vivi watched as she hid her face in her hands so that no one could see her tears of relief.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's some things in here I want to address about some stuff. Settle down and sip a soda or something while I get us started!
> 
> First off I forgot to mention it last time but I figure I can do it here: the nickname "Bud" actually comes from an old JRPG called Tales of Symphonia that came out a little after FF9. In it some womanizing noble brings the party to his house and tells his butler, "Yo this is my bud!"
> 
> From then on the butler ceaselessly calls the main character nothing but "Mr. Bud" and for some reason I find that hilarious, so it snuck its way into here. I figure it's annoying to only refer to No. 776 as, well, his number, so I gave people an out. You're welcome! :V
> 
> Second, ankhegs aren't really "boss" monsters, but it kind of stemmed from when I was a child and played the old PC game Baldur's Gate. The game points you to go south from the first inn but a side quest lets you go towards the north and really, how bad can it b-
> 
> OH GOD THESE BUGS ARE SPEWING ACID AND ONE SHOTTING THE TANK WHY GOD WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS!? And, well, you get the idea. For some reason, from then on, ankhegs have always seemed like tougher than usual enemies to me, so here we go, miniboss time!
> 
> Also BAH if you were about to say they're D&D monsters and not FF monsters! Bah, I say! FF1 was basically Japanese D&D, and there are actual ankheg monsters in FF1 around the base of the volcano before you go fight the Fiend of Fire. I am totally in the clear here!
> 
> Vivi's black mage number, by the way, comes from some numerology stuff; seven can be seen as a holy or saving number, and things tend to happen in "threes", that is, it's more of a "complete" number. No. 776 was almost the "Complete Savior", but he was just short; thus No. 777 is the "true" complete savior, as it were? I'm not really all that great at it but there ya go, that's the original idea.
> 
> So hope you enjoyed the story so far and the explanations! I'll see you around for the next part!


	5. The Warrior of Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zidane and Garnet have a heart-to-heart with Vivi, and the child soon learns what became of his brother. The young black mage cannot fathom being anything more than a boring child, and yet he is soon thrust into a grand destiny he thought only his brother possessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! This one has lots of words because Vivi's an introspective child, and Garnet tends to lock up her emotions and is very thoughtful, so I'm sorry if your eyes glaze over. A notable difference in this chapter is that in the original, I kind of forgot Zidane was hurt and he was bouncing around a lot more than this cleaned up version.
> 
> Not much to say aside from READ ON!

The White Mages came sooner than Vivi had thought. Perhaps Slai was faster when she didn’t have to drag a useless black mage behind her? The mostly female brigade suddenly came out of nowhere, pushing through the crowds, and they worked in unison to drag the men back to the research center, where they could properly be used as guinea pigs for their experimental magic.

…Except that they were really being healed with totally safe magic of the Devil Sun that was completely and wholly tested to not be harmful to humans at all, of course.

As the knight and thief were brought into the infirmary to be treated, Slai and Vivi brought Garnet into a different room, where the three could have some refreshments and consider how to respond to each other. Both Slai and Vivi couldn't be sure if they could trust the Dark Warriors, especially after Vivi's dream, and Garnet didn't help them feel much safer, the way she was guarded about talking about his brother. Slai, of course, was the one to break the silence as she practically pouted at the princess. “So... are you really Dark Warriors?”

Garnet was considering how to give Vivi the news about No. 776, so she almost didn't realize the girl was asking her a question. “Hmm? Oh, Steiner and I are Dark Warriors. Zidane's not really one, he's just... helping us out.” She tried to smile at the children, but it was so pained that it only made Vivi shiver.

“Vivi had a dream that a man with a tail attacked him,” Slai said, crossing her arms. Vivi turned to Slai to tell her not to worry about him, but she would have none of that. Vivi was her friend and she would protect him as long as she could! “Are you *sure* that Zidane's a good person?”

Garnet opened her mouth to assuage the girl’s fears, but then she remembered…

“ _I-I'm so sorry, Zidane...” the black mage said softly, for his lungs had already begun hardening, “I was... absolutely useless...”_

“ _No! No no no NO!” the Dark Warrior shouted, shaking the black mage who was practically a statue at that point, “You're not useless! It was me! I never traveled with other people before, and I was only thinking about myself!” And now... because of his selfishness...!_

“ _Zidane...” No. 776 rasped, “I... wanted... to help...”_

Garnet shook her head of the memory, and she smiled at the two. “He can be a little crude sometimes, but his heart is in the right place. I’m not sure where Zidane comes from; there are no tailed people in Alexandria that I know of. Perhaps there's a different city with other people like him? You might have had a dream about one of his people.” The princess noticed, after all, that Slai never said that Vivi saw Zidane specifically, just someone who might have been part of the same tribe.

That seemed to calm Slai down, and the little girl turned to Vivi. They stared at each other for a while, and Garnet wondered if the two shared an unspoken language, as they seemed to be able to understand each other immediately. Slai then smiled and turned back to Garnet. “Well then, I guess that makes sense. So uhm, where are the other Dark Warriors?” Garnet didn't miss the real, unspoken question on everyone's mind: _Where was Vivi's brother?_

Vivi suddenly looked up from his cup, his eyes shining brilliantly as he worked up the courage to speak. “M-my...” Everyone turned to him with light surprise, and the black mage gulped, a little afraid to talk back to a *princess*. “M-my brother... No. 776. He's a Dark Warrior. Did you see him? How is he? Is he okay?” He didn’t want to mention that he was hearing his brother in his mind. It was just weird. *Normal* people didn’t hear people in their minds. Not even normal black mages heard things like that. Why was he different? Where was his brother? Why was everything so hard to understand? Everything was so different since he had that dream. Something was wrong, something was…

Garnet was fidgeting. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, trying to find out what to say to the child. “Vivi… No. 777… there’s something you have to know.”

Slai held her friend's gloved hand tightly as the two listened to what the princess said.

\---

Zidane sighed contentedly as he settled onto the infirmary bed, covered practically from head to toe in potion soaked bandages, “You know, the bath wouldn’t have been so bad if the people scrubbing me down weren’t dudes. That was a little awkward. Good thing you didn’t have to go through that, right Rusty?”

The dark knight didn’t answer. He was lying in a bed similar to Zidane’s, against the wall perpendicular to the monkey man’s. Zidane could see him a little ways away, completely still. Zidane heard that the worst of the wounds he sustained were internal, and so the white mages had sedated him with some numbing magic. Zidane assumed that the Dark Warrior wasn’t moving because it hurt too much to do so. “Hey, Steiner.”

That got his attention. He rumbled just a little ways away. “I don’t respond to name calling monkeys,” he hissed. Zidane shrugged as if to say “Suit yourself” (and then let out a small hiss himself at the pain), and lay back on his bed. There was silence for a moment, and suddenly the knight spoke up lowly in a surprised tone. “You… you called me…?”

“You’re not wearing that rusty armor right now, so the name doesn’t apply, right?” Zidane said with a smile on his now mostly healed lips. Steiner blinked and turned lightly to Zidane, wondering just how much of that was truth. “You… did good out there, Steiner. Protecting Dagger and all. Although you could scream ‘Princess!’ a little less often. She’s under cover, you know.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Steiner insisted, getting hot with anger, “It’s impossible to hide her royal blood under something as flimsy as a fake name.”

Well, so much for trying to be nice to him… Zidane truly wondered if Steiner could get through a day without getting into a fight with someone. He really shouldn’t continue the conversation, but he had never backed down from an argument yet, and he sure wasn’t going to start now. “Look, you’re wrong. Dagger’s trying real hard to do this right, so she doesn’t put anyone in danger,” the monkey-man said, shifting in the bed so he could sit up more and glare appropriately at the knight, “You’re the one who doesn’t understand. Can’t you see that if someone targeted her, you and I would be in danger? We spent that entire battle keeping that giant bug away from her; think about how much worse it would be if a smarter enemy realized she was your leader?”

“I need not worry about the safety of myself or of thieves!” Steiner growled, “As long as I can protect the princess, nothing else is important. My safety is nothing compared to the princess’s!”

Something inside the young man snapped. Even Zidane had breaking points, and he had reached his when he thought about the way Garnet cried back in Dali Square. How could this guy be so blind to her feelings!? “Dammit Rusty, would you think about yourself for once? You’re a Dark Warrior! Can you even imagine what Dagger would feel if she, as your leader, saw you die because of her? Why the heck would you put that much pressure on her!?”

“I *knew* you were only trying to butter me up by calling me by my name! I am not a child to be won with such a flimsy token of friendship, and I won't be caught by your lies, you bastard!”

So Steiner really DID know how to curse; Zidane assumed he kept his mouth shut in front of Garnet. Zidane might have been slightly impressed, seeing as how the man had learned how to keep his tongue in check even when enraged, but the knight was so infuriating that even such a small tidbit did little to assuage his own anger. “Don't you change the subject, you stuck-up asshole! When are you going to realize that, as a Dark Warrior, you're just as important to this crystal-be-damned mission? Vivi is too! We *all* are! If even one of us weren't there during that last fight, then none of us would be here now!” The thief let out a huff and flopped back onto his pillow, hissing at the pain and annoyance, “We need each other, or else we're never going to get through this."

“How the hell are you necessary!? You aren't even a Dark Warrior! If anything, we should be the one throwing you into the battle first as cannon fodder!” Steiner roared before groaning in pain at his own wounds, and Zidane would have opened his mouth for one more rebuttal, but he was interrupted when their white mage healers came barging in suddenly, intent on checking how their patients were doing.

“Why are you yelling?” one of the younger (male) novices groaned as he tried to tuck the thief into the bed, “We told you not to move.” Zidane fidgeted away from him like a child when the white mage moved to check his vitals. The monkey-man wanted to be babied by the sexy lady who was tending Steiner!

“What the crap, I’m fine!” Zidane howled.

The healer was completely baffled at the man's behavior; they hadn't given him any drugs that could have made him react this way, so why was he so adverse to being helped? “Please sir, your wounds will reopen!”

“My wounds were all acidic! There’s nothing to open! Get away from me!”

There was a sudden scream that made everyone look up. The white mage tending Zidane became distracted for only a moment, but that was all the young man threw his covers off and hopped past him. The monkey-man ignored his healer's cry for him to stop as he rushed from the room. He knew what that sound was; it sounded a lot like Vivi, and he could tell what was going on already. He ran faster when he heard Vivi’s initial wail quiet into a small sob.

Garnet looked up when Zidane slammed the door open in his haste. He gasped for air, as his exertion both tired him out and exasperated his still tender skin, and the princess stood up immediately, surprised at his frazzled and mummified appearance. “Zidane, what are you doing? Is everything okay…?” she asked, eyeing him with a curious blink.

“Vivi…” Zidane gasped, gulping in air as he walked into the room slowly. Garnet opened her mouth to try to keep the thief from overexerting himself, but when Vivi looked up at the thief, who dropped down in front of the black mage... the princess dropped her head sadly and kept quiet as Slai hugged her friend close. Vivi sniffled and whimpered, but he looked up at Zidane with wide eyes, and the young man wondered if he should lie through his teeth about No. 776's death. It would be easier to just sugarcoat the story of what happened at the Wind Shrine... but lying, especially to kids, just wasn't his style.

The thief dropped down with a hiss so he could look up at Vivi and cock his head. “Hey, No. 777.” The black mage sniffled lightly, and Slai clutched him instinctively, as if the betailed, nearly naked man were still a danger to her friend. “Hear me out, 777. Please. What happened to No. 776... it was my fault.”

Vivi stared at Zidane with his bright, shining eyes. The monkey-man used his name… he used his *real* name… “What do you mean?”

“I…” Zidane dropped his head, mentally berating himself over and over again. “I didn’t buy any medicine when I went on this journey. I was in charge of the provisions, being Dagger’s servant and all.” He looked back up and strained a smile at the child; it wasn’t really a lie if the main part of the story remained the same, right…? “And I didn’t buy any softs. Can you believe it? No. 776 protected me from the Medusa’s attacks and he was the one who was turned to stone… It’s my fault, No. 777. I’m so, so sorry.”

“But it’s okay, Zidane,” Garnet suddenly said, approaching the others. The three looked up at her, and she smiled, this time reassuringly. “The Crystal of Wind said that if we can restore the power to the four Dark Crystals and save this world, they’ll probably have enough power to restore No. 776 to his original self. That’s the biggest reason you’re here, right Zidane?”

Vivi stared at Garnet, and he jumped when Zidane suddenly barked a quick laugh. “Yeah, I guess that is the biggest reason I’m coming along. Leave it to you to cheer me up, Dagger.” He stayed in his kneel and turned to Vivi, whose lamp eyes stared back in worry. The tailed man felt his heart break a little at the child’s sadness, and the young man tried to smile, but it didn’t help much with his sad expression. “Can you forgive me enough to fight alongside the Dark Warriors and save all of Gaia?”

Silence permeated through the room. Vivi wasn’t sure what to say… What should he do…? He turned instinctively to Slai, unsure. Whenever he didn’t know what to do, he always turned to someone else. Originally, it had been No. 776 whom he spoke with, but when he came to live in Dali, it was always Slai he turned to, because she had been put in charge of him from the beginning. But this time, instead of answering him, she shook her head. “No, Vivi. This is your decision. I can’t tell you what to do.”

Vivi wondered if that was why 776 wasn’t talking to him right now. This was… this wasn’t his decision; it was Vivi’s. And truthfully, at first he wanted to say “no”. He didn’t believe he was any good for something as important and delicate as this. The entire world was at stake, and he was just a normal, small black mage… He couldn’t do anything important like his brother…

But when Slai looked at him and told him this was *his* decision, he suddenly realized something very important. He was being selfish. No 776 would have done anything he could to save the world, and he was sure Slai would do whatever she could to help too. Vivi… he just sat in a corner and told himself he was useless, even when others told him otherwise.

He couldn’t just say “no” now, not when someone, his own brother too, actually depended on him! He never wanted to be special; he always wished that people would look at him like they do at Slai. And yet, these special people, the Dark Warriors and Zidane… they looked at him like they would a friend. He didn’t know what to say… Perhaps… perhaps this was what he needed…

Not to mention, if they really did need him now, for whatever reason, and he stayed in Dali, then more of those bug monsters might come back, and all of his friends would be in danger. No. 776 always took care of him when he was younger, and now it was time to return the favor as well! Vivi hunched his shoulders up, took a deep breath, and nodded very slowly. “O-okay, I’ll come with you guys.”

“Freaking *awesome*!” Zidane shouted, leaping into the air before nearly crashing to the floor in pain. Vivi jumped a bit in fear at the sudden movement, and Garnet chastised the thief with a huff as she held him upright. The thief smiled up at Vivi; it felt like the biggest burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Now, finally, he felt like he was being forgiven. If they could save No.776 together, he could finally apologize to Bud, too. “Thanks so much, Vivi. You won’t regret it, I swear!”

“Zidane…” Garnet murmured, still trying to hold him upright. She had seen how pained Zidane looked about No. 776, but seeing him so happy about Vivi’s decision made her realize that part of it was because he wanted things to go well for her as well. He was the Leader of the Dark Warriors for just a moment, so he knew how hard it was; he wanted to help her in every way he could.

As Zidane celebrated with a thoroughly confused Vivi, Garnet dropped her head and bit her lip in worry. The two had gotten Vivi to understand their plight, but it was with a little bit of a lie, as well. Zidane's powers were so great, it seemed like he should be a Warrior, and yet...

...No, she trusted Zidane. He wouldn't have gone through this much trouble to help them if he weren't completely committed to the cause. ...She just hoped that, as leader, she was making the right decision...

“Dagger?” The princess gave a surprised gasp and was snapped from her thoughts when Zidane peered closely at her face. “What’s wrong? You looked sad.” His smile widened and his tail flicked lightly. “You're holding me pretty close too...”

Garnet stared at him with wide eyes before tossing him aside, “Zidane! You needn't be so crass!”

“Now your face is all red!” The monkey-man crowed, reaching out to touch her forehead. She jumped away instinctively, huffing at the thought. “Do you have a fever…?”

“I… do not!” Garnet insisted, pulling away from his touch, her flush becoming even more prominent. “I cannot even believe you. Did you hurt yourself just to get me to help you?”

Zidane chuckled lightly, trying not to shrug. “You wouldn't even believe me if I said 'no'. Sorry, Dagger, I didn’t mean to make you upset, I was just worried. You haven’t rested like Rusty or I after the battle with that bug thing. You sure you don’t need to nap for a while?”

Garnet murmured something that sounded like an agreement, but then she twiddled her thumbs in thought. “I’m just worried about where we’ll be going next. The Crystal of Fire is all the way across the ocean, and we have no idea where the Crystal of Earth is…”

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty…” The voice that came from the doorway made everyone look up. In the doorway was a well-groomed man dressed in a scientist’s lab outfit. He adjusted his glasses when he looked about the room, and his eyes fell on Slai. She gave a squeal and hopped up from her chair, rushing into the scientist’s arms and hugging him tightly.

“Hello Papa!” she called out happily. Vivi found himself instinctively sidling up next to them, still not completely comfortable around the Dark Warriors compared to her “second family”.

Garnet and Zidane looked up at Slai’s father as he lifted his daughter up and snuggled her close. “It’s nice to see you, Slai. You did a good job taking care of Vivi so dutifully.” The girl giggled and hugged her father’s neck happily as he turned back to the warriors.

“Is there something I can help you with, Sir?” Garnet murmured, staring at him with a slightly confused expression. What did he want, calling her during their conversation? He was a scientist, so perhaps he knew something about Vivi that would be useful to them?

“I heard you were talking about the crystals,” Slai’s father said, shifting his daughter so he carried her with one hand. He used his other hand to pat Vivi on his pointy hat. “You’re looking for the Crystal of Earth?”

The princess raised her eyebrows, figuring out where this conversation was going. “Indeed,” she admitted, “Alexandria keeps tabs on the other three, but Mother and Father never were able to find out where the Crystal of Earth was located. It’s like it doesn’t exist on the face of Gaia.”

“That’s because it doesn’t,” Slai’s Father said with a slightly smug smile. Garnet blinked and cocked her head to the side when the scientist gestured with his free hand. “The Crystal of Earth isn’t on the face of Gaia because it’s under it!”

Slai’s father waited for the gasps all around. When no one seemed surprised at all, he felt slightly awkward standing in a pose and waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen. In fact, the only way the conversation continued was when Zidane spoke up. “So, are we going somewhere with this?”

“Oh,” the researcher said, coughing into his fist and continuing, “Well, when Dali’s research building was under construction, we fell upon a tunnel into Gaia that was made long ago by the Dwarves. We struck up a bargain with them and built right on top of the tunnel to keep unnecessary tourists away. I bet you Dark Warriors could ask them where the Earth Crystal is, and they would be glad to help you.”

Zidane smiled brightly and turned to Garnet, who genuinely smiled for the first time since the fight with the ankheg. Things were really… they were improving; they really were. The contagious smile was spreading to everyone in the room as Zidane announced: “We’ll go immediately, then.”

Garnet’s smile waned, and she berated her friend, “I don’t think so, Zidane. You and Steiner haven’t recovered fully yet. We’ll head there when we’re all fully prepared, and not a moment sooner.” She turned to Vivi and smiled. “Is that alright with you, Vivi?”

The black mage stared for a moment, as if unsure how to answer a princess. Finally, he adjusted his hat with a shrug. “S-sure.”

“Then it’s settled!” Zidane said, rolling his shoulders as if preparing already, “We leave in the morning.”

“*If* you and Steiner feel better,” Garnet reminded him quickly, pursing her lips at the squinty-eyed man and trying to look as authoritative as possible.

Zidane, as usual, shrugged off her fears. “We’ll be fine; Rusty and I are made of stronger stuff than that. Tomorrow!” Garnet gave him a face that told him she wasn’t buying it, and he winked at her. “Tomorrow. Bed time; don't let the light strike, Dagger.”

Garnet huffed at the childish saying, but she looked away and said instead, “We’ll see. Nevertheless, have a goodlight, Zidane.”

Slai, her father, and Vivi all looked at Zidane as he nonchalantly wandered from the room (and they soon heard shouts of anger as a certain male white mage caught up with him). They all turned and looked at Garnet, and she smiled at them. “I suppose… I should find a room to sleep in…?”

Slai’s father placed his daughter on the floor, bowed, and showed her the way to the guest rooms.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely sure why I loved such a minor character like Slai enough to put her in this story, but I always thought she was just the cutest little sweetheart, taking care of her father's business while he was working underground in Dali; later she helps take care of the elderly in town, and she just is a sweet and helpful little girl. I would love to have a little daughter as dutiful and kind as her, so I wanted to use her in some capacity I suppose.
> 
> Next up we'll be seeing the dwarves, which made appearances in both FF3 and 9, surprisingly enough! Let's get to that Earth Crystal ASAP, shall we!?


End file.
